Sexual Orientation and the Law Blog

Efforts for marriage equality shift back to New England

The San Francisco Examiner ponders the new "Yankee activism" on gay rights.

-- SS

Tax Considerations Regarding Same Sex Marriage

With tax season upon us, a tax blogger has sought to examine the multiple tax complications that ensue in light of DOMA and states that recognize same sex marriage.  You can find the blog post here at taxvixens. 

-SB

NH House approves marriage equality

A bill that would make New Hampshire the third state allowing gay couples to marry was approved by the New Hampshire House and now moves to the Senate.

-- SS

VT legislators on cusp of approving marriage equality; possible veto looms

CNN reports that the Vermont senate has overwhelming approved the state's marriage-equality bill, and the state house appears poised to do the same. But according to a spokesperson for Republican governor Jim Douglas, "Governor Douglas agrees with President Obama that marriage is between a man and a woman."

-- SS

Barney Frank labels Justice Scalia a "homophobe"

Frank made the comment in the course of explaining to news outlet 365Gay why he thought a challenge to the federal "Defense of Marriage Act" should not come before the current Supreme Court:

At some point, [the Defense of Marriage Act] is going to have to go to the United States Supreme Court.... I wouldn't want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has got too many votes on this current court.

Video of the interview, which also ranged over other gay political topics, is available from the 365Gay website.

-- SS

CA marriage-equality activists begin gathering signatures to rescind Prop 8

The California secretary of state has given the group Yes on Equality until August to collect the nearly 700,000 signatures needed to qualify an initiative for the 2010 ballot to rescind Prop 8.

-- SS

Vermont marriage-equality bill passes unanimously out of senate committee

The bill is scheduled to be debated starting Monday in the Vermont state senate, reports the Bennington Banner.

-- SS

Merriam-Webster dictionary acknowledges same-sex marriage

Some of the early court decisions against same-sex marriage relied (somewhat circularly) on dictionary definitions of marriage in order to hold that it was impossible for two persons of the same sex to marry.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary, along with some others, appears to have now foreclosed that line of argument. 

-- SS

NYT reviews new book on Don't Ask, Don't Tell

According to the review in today's New York Times, "The main attraction in Unfriendly Fire is the agility and tough-mindedness with which [author Nathaniel] Frank presents his arguments."

The core message of Nathaniel Frank’s book about the American military’s ban on being openly gay can be summed up in a single slogan: “ ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Don’t Work.” Mr. Frank has also been offering succinct five-minute synopses of his argument as he makes the rounds of the talk show circuit. So why does his book, “Unfriendly Fire,” need nearly 300 pages of text to make the same relatively simple points? Because he makes them so discerningly, so substantively and so well.

-- SS

US signs onto UN Statement on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity

According to the State Department press release, the UN Statement "condemns human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity wherever they occur."  Amnesty International applauds the decision.  Wikipedia has more background and information on the UN Statement. 

-- SS

Teacher fired in controversy over Laramie Project

USA Today reports on an Oklahoma teacher who was fired after her principal ordered her to cease a class project based on The Laramie Project, a film about the murder of Matthew Shepard.

-- SS

Minn. expected to resist anti-gay marriage amendment despite end-of-world warnings

Despite a warning from one religious leader that “[i]f everyone is a gay, this world will cease to exist in 10 years,” a state constitutional amendment to bar marriage equality in Minnesota is not expected to advance in the state legislature, reports The Advocate.

-- SS

Does more visibility on gay issues cause more hate crimes?

Anti-gay hate crimes surged in one major California county last year, reports the San Jose Mercury News, "a striking increase that a leading prosecutor attributes to controversy over Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on gay marriage."

-- SS

Lambda Legal seeks public interest fellows

Lambda Legal is welcoming applications from "deferred associates" and others with financial support from their employers to join them in delivering impact litigation to achieve civil rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered persons, and people living with HIV.  More details are available here.

-- SS

Pondering the impact of the Prop 2 decision on migratory marriages

A California law professor speculates that if the California Supreme Court validates same-sex marriages that were performed in California between June 16 and November 4, when such marriages were legal, it may need to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages that were performed during the same period.

-- SS

A Gay Marriage Solution: End Marriage?

TIME magazine asks whether it's time to leave marriage to religious institutions and simply give everyone a civil union.

-- SS

State attorney general, other leaders support marriage equality in Maryland

"A freedom rider, a former Republican congressman and the state's chief legal officer banded together yesterday to testify in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland - evidence that proponents say shows the issue is gaining momentum," reports the Baltimore Sun.

-- SS

Marriage equality bills percolating in Maine, Vermont

An update on the status of legislation in both states from 365Gay.com.

-- SS

Obama faces key test on federal domestic partner benefits

Two different judges of the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals, who come from very different ideological perspectives, have issued orders that employees of their court are entitled to health benefits for their same-sex partners under the program that insures millions of federal workers.  (The orders were issued not in cases, but in response to grievances by court employees.) 

Now, reports the New York Times, President Obama "is in a tough spot."  If he stands by current federal personnel policy that bars recognition of same-sex relationships, "he risks agitating liberal groups that helped him win election.  If he supports the judges and challenges the [federal 'defense' of] marriage act, he risks alienating Republicans with whom he is seeking to work on economic, health care and numerous other matters."

-- SS

Two new scholarly articles on Prop 8

The California Journal of Politics and Policy has two research articles on Prop 8: On Amending and Revising the Constitution: The Issues Behind the Challenge to Proposition 8 and Should Proposition 8 Be Held to be Retroactive?

-- SS