LGBTQ news and entertainment
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear 6 gay marriage cases whose outcome could affect the laws in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan.
The Kentucky and Michigan cases involve the right to marry, while the Ohio and Tennessee cases focus on the recognition of same-sex marriages from other states.
Check back here throughout the day for updates as the cases are presented.
Today, a Palm Beach County Circuit judge ruled in a probate case that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
From the Palm Beach Post:
Circuit Judge Diana Lewis’ opinion was tied to a probate case surrounding the death of Frank Bangor, a man who owned property in Florida and married W. Jason Simpson in Delaware, where gay marriage is legal.
[snip]
Under Florida law, a spouse is recognized as a personal representative of an estate provided the out-of-state marriage is recognized as valid under state law. Simpson, through attorney Andrew Fein, petitioned Lewis to be recognized as Bangor’s personal representative despite a ban on gay marriage in Florida.
This is the fourth ruling in favor of marriage equality in Florida in less than a month.
Just yesterday a Broward County judge ruled against the ban in a divorce proceeding.
Florida State Attorney General Pam Bondi should seriously get a clue. The future is here.
Just hours after Utah announced it’s intention to ask the US Supreme Court to rule on the recent overturn of that state’s ban on same-sex marriage, Virginia’s Attorney General has followed suit:
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says he will ask SCOTUS to review the recent ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the state’s ban unconstitutional.
On Friday, Herring, a Democrat who has said the Virginia ban is unconstitutional, will file a petition for writ of certiorari asking the nation’s highest court to hear Virginia’s marriage equality case and definitively settle the constitutional issues it raises.
Bostic v. Schaefer was originally filed on behalf of two same-sex couples in July 2013 by the legal team that challenged California’s Proposition 8, including the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) along with attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Lambda Legal joined the case in March on behalf of all of Virginia’s same-sex couples.
[snip]
“Throughout this case, I have fought for the fundamental rights of Virginians and the quickest possible resolution,” Herring said in a statement. “I believe the district and appeals courts ruled correctly in striking down Virginia’s discriminatory marriage ban, but it has long been clear that the Supreme Court will likely have the final word. I want that decision to come as soon as possible and I want the voices of Virginians to be heard. This case has moved forward at an incredibly swift pace, and I look forward to a final resolution that affirms the fundamental right of all Virginians to marry.”
Clearly, lawyers in both states (and on both sides of the issue) are looking to get to SCOTUS first in what will clearly be a historic court decision.
More at MetroWeekly.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes has officially filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court to rule on the current ongoing same-sex marriage case.
Here’s the background so far:
• December 20, 2013 – U.S District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled Utah’s same-sex marriage ban in violation of the U.S. Constitution. More than 1,000 same-sex couples to married before the U.S. Supreme Court halted marriages pending appeal
• April 10, 2014 – 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case
• June 25, 2014 – 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to uphold a lower court’s ruling that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional
Worth noting that SCOTUS does not have to take the case. Should SCOTUS refuse, the 10th’s ruling would stand and same-sex marriage would be legal in Utah.
Peggy Tomsic of the Salt Lake City law firm of Magleby & Greenwood, P.C. (currently representing the plaintiffs) issued this statement:
“We respect the State’s right to seek review of its own law in the highest Court in the land, but we also respectfully, and vehemently, disagree with the notion that States can deny one of the most foundational rights to the millions of same-sex couples living across this great land. We look forward to reviewing the Petition filed by Utah’s excellent lawyers, and to responding to it in due course.”
An Ohio hospital is refusing the request of a lesbian widow who has asked for her deceased spouse’s medical records:
Officials at Bethesda North Hospital, located in Blue Ash, a Cincinnati suburb, told local TV station WCPO that federal and state privacy laws prohibit them from releasing the records of Barbara Graham to her surviving partner, Marcia Gallas.
Graham died of cancer on Easter.
The women were married in Canada in 2003.
There are no federal laws that prohibit the hospital from releasing the records. What the hospital officials probably are referring to is that since Ohio state does not recognize same-sex marriage (yet), they will not either.
Another hospital where the couple received care – Cincinnati-based Jewish Hospital – had no problem releasing Graham’s records to Gallas.
For the third time in three weeks, a Florida judge has ruled in favor of marriage equality, this time in Broward County.
From Freedom To Marry:
The ruling in today’s case, from Broward County Circuit Judge Dale Cohen, is the third marriage ruling in three weeks, following a July 17 ruling in Monroe County’s Huntsman v. Heavilin and July 25’s ruling in Miami-Dade County’s Pareto v. Ruvin.
In all 3 cases, judges ruled that banning same-sex couples from marrying is unconstitutional. All three rulings are stayed, and the two previous rulings have been appealed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
For now, today’s decision only applies to Broward County. The next step for the Miami-Dade and Monroe County decisions is review by Florida’s 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Last week, the plaintiffs in both cases moved to consolidate their cases and filed a motion seeking review directly by the Florida Supreme Court.
More than 30 court rulings have come down in favor of same-sex marriage since the June 2013 ruling by SCOTUS striking down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.
Reading just a bit from Judge Cohen’s ruling:
“The Court is well aware of the emotionally charged environment behind this important issue. However, politics and emotionality cannot rule, it is the laws of our government that create the free society that we enjoy. The judicial role is to rule by applying the law to the facts with neutrality and impartiality.”
“This Court believes that the issue here is not whether there is a right to same-sex marriage but instead whether there is a right to marriage from which same-sex couples can be excluded. The State of Florida cannot ignore the status and dignity afforded to opposite-sex couples, who were married out-of-state, and not extend those same rights, dignities and benefits to same-sex couples similarly situated.”
As support for marriage equality hits 72% (Crosby Textor poll) across Australia, elected officials in the country’s Parliament are looking towards a vote where MPs can vote their conscience as opposed to being locked in line with party position.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
Parliament is heading for a historic vote on same-sex marriage in which all MPs will be free to vote according to their conscience. The Coalition party rooms are likely to decide on a conscience vote during the coming spring session of Parliament, with one Liberal MP saying it is now ”almost certain” the party will dump its binding opposition to gay marriage. Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose sister Christine Forster is in a same-sex relationship, promised before the election the Liberal Party room would be free to decide on a conscience vote.
The matter is expected to reach a crucial stage in the next two sitting fortnights of Parliament in August and September after senior Liberals asked crossbench Senator David Leyonhjelm to introduce his draft bill to legalise same-sex marriage. The government wants his proposed legislation on the notice paper so that it has time to scrutinise the exact wording before deciding which way to go. Senator Leyonhjelm has agreed, reversing his stated position when he announced the draft bill last month. At the time, he said he would not introduce it until the Liberal Party room opted for a conscience vote.
It will be a busy day in Cincinnati this Wednesday as a three-judge panel in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear appeals in 5 marriage equality cases from 4 different states.
Some of the cases address the freedom to marry directly, while some challenge states that refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
From the Columbus Dispatch:
All five cases will be heard by the same three-judge panel, consisting of former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah L. Cook, 62; ex-state Solicitor Jeffrey Sutton, 53; and Martha Craig “Cissy” Daughtrey, 72. Daughtrey was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, while Cook and Sutton were picked by President George W. Bush in 2003.
Of the five cases, two are from Ohio:
• Obergefell, et al v. Himes, et al, is an appeal from a decision by U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black on Dec. 23, 2013, that required the state of Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages on death certificates issued by the state.
• Henry, et al v. Himes, is an appeal from another Black ruling, this one on April 14, 2014, that ordered the state to recognize valid same-sex marriages legally performed in states that allow such marriages.
The other three cases are from Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee:
• DeBoer, et al v. Snyder, et al, is an appeal from an order by Judge Bernard A. Friedman on March 21, 2014, that struck down as unconstitutional Michigan’s ban on gay marriage.
• Bourke, et al v. Beshear, et al, stems from an order by Judge John G. Heyburn II on Feb. 12, 2014, declaring that Kentucky law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by refusing to recognize marriages legally performed in other states.
• Tanco, et al v. Haslam, et al, is an appeal from a decision by Judge Aleta A. Trauger ordering Tennessee to recognize marriages of three couples legally married outside the state.
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| Former US Senator Rick Santorum |
Right Wing Watch is reporting on a recent interview on the Eagle Forum Live radio show wherein former US senator and forever anti-gay Rick Santorum said that marriage equality “devalues” marriage:
The former senator and presidential candidate told host Anne Cori, Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly’s daughter, that supporters of marriage equality have “devalued marriage” and “divorced marriage from any meaning beyond a romantic relationship,” while Cori lamented the “celebration of single mothers.”
He also warned of polygamy: “If marriage is simply a romantic relationship between two people, and by the way, that’s what it’s devolved to the minds of a lot of Americans, if that’s all that marriage is well then it’s hard to make the argument that any two people or any three or four people shouldn’t be able to get married.”