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HI: Judge Denies Churches’ Request to Block Civil Unions Law

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

Come the New Year couples can officially enter into Civil Unions in Hawaii. “We have countless couples ready to enter into Civil Unions on January 1st and January 2nd,” says Alan Spector, Equality Hawaii. But, a lawsuit filed this week, tried to stop it from happening.

Emmanuel Temple, the House of Praise in Wahiawa and Lighthouse Outreach Assembly of God in Waipahu filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block the implementation of the Civil Union law, saying the law violates their civil rights and constitutional protections for religious freedom.

“The law hasn’t even gone into effect yet and they’re suing, claiming they will be forced to host Civil Union ceremonies in their churches when that hasn’t happened,” says Spector.

Full Story from KHON2

Click here for gay wedding resources in Hawaii.

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Tags: civil unions, hawaii, judge, lawsuit

CA: Federal Judge Says Prop 8 Proponents Must Disclose Donors

Monday, November 7th, 2011

A federal judge says donors to the $40 million campaign that banned same-sex marriage in California aren’t entitled to the anonymity that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted to minor parties operating in a hostile climate.

Only organizations like the Socialist Workers Party during the Cold War and the NAACP in the segregated South – “small, persecuted groups whose very existence depended on some manner of anonymity” – have been exempted from laws requiring that members and contributors be disclosed, U.S. District Judge Morrison England said Friday.

He said there is no evidence that the 7 million Californians who voted for Proposition 8 in 2008 could be considered a “fringe organization” with unpopular or unorthodox views, or that leaving donors in the public record would frighten away contributors to future campaigns.

Full Story from SFGate

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: disclosure, donors, judge, prop 8, ruling

Judge Orders House’s DOMA Defense Lawyers to Answer Plaintiff Questions

Friday, July 29th, 2011

Last week, we wrote about the request from Edie Windsor’s lawyers for an order compelling John Boehner’s lawyers to answer questions. Today, the Judge issued that order, telling Paul Clement that he must answer two of the key questions. I’ve posted the order here.

Here’s the key passage from the order:

The two interrogatories pressed by the plaintiff ask “What, if anything, do you contend are the compelling justifications for section 3 of DOMA, 1 U.S.C. S 77″ (Interrogatory no. 1) and “What, if anything, do you assert are the legitimate government interests rationally advanced by section 3 of DOMA, 1 U.S.C. S 7?” (Interrogatory no. 3). BLAG objects to both on the ground that, to the extent they are construed as contention interrogatories, they are premature. That argument is disingenuous; at the time BLAG responded, the discovery deadline was three days away, and it is now closed. (emphasis added).

Full Story from AmericaBlog

Click here for gay wedding resources.

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Tags: defense, defense of marriage act, judge, questions

Brazil: Judge OK’s Gay Marriage in Sao Paulo

Monday, June 27th, 2011

A Brazilian state judge on Monday approved what the court said is the nation’s first gay marriage.

Sao Paulo state Judge Fernando Henrique Pinto ruled two men could convert their civil union into a full marriage. Brazil’s Supreme Court cleared the way in May for the recognition of same-sex civil unions, but stopped short of approving gay marriages.

A court statement said Pinto made the decision based on the top court’s ruling on civil unions and on Brazil’s constitution, which outlines how a civil union can be converted into a legal marriage.

Full Story from AP

Click here for gay marriage resources in Brazil.

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Tags: brazil, Gay Marriage, judge, sao paulo

MD: Judge Rules Legally Wed Lesbians Can’t Be Forced to Testify Against Each Other

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Legally wed same-sex spouses do not have to testify against each other in court, a Maryland judge ruled Thursday, leading to the acquittal of a woman charged with assaulting her wife.

Washington County Circuit Court judge Donald E. Beachley ruled that Sha’rron Snowden (pictured, left) could invoke her spousal privilege not to testify against Deborah Snowden (right), who was charged with second-degree assault and reckless endangerment after being accused of threatening to kill Sha’rron with a knife last December, reports The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Md.

Full Story from The Advocate

Click here for gay marriage resources in Maryland.

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Tags: judge, lesbian couple, married, maryland, testify

VA: Judge Relents, Allows Gay Couple to Hyphenate Last Names

Monday, May 16th, 2011

A Virginia state court has allowed two gay couples to hyphenate their last names after previously rejecting both petitions as fraudulent.

Michael Dye and Brian Justice, who are legally married in Iowa, asked the Washington County Circuit Court to change their last names to Dye-Justice. They were initially turned down by Circuit Court Judge C. Randall Lowe on the basis of fraud.

“The judge originally said that because these two individuals want to share the last name, they are putting themselves forth as being married,” said Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Full Story from WAMU

Click here for gay marriage resources in Virginia.

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Tags: gay couple, hyphenate, judge, Virginia

NJ: Judge Halts Deportation of Gay Spouse

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Scott blogged earlier about the dilemma of Josh Vandiver and Henry Velandia, a bi-national couple that faced separation over Velandia’s deportation order. Some relief to report today. (AP):

A Venezuelan salsa dancer who legally married an American man in a same-sex ceremony last year has had his deportation placed on hold.

The decision comes one day after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder set aside a Board of Immigration Appeals ruling in a similar case.

Full Story from Pam’s House Blend

Click here for gay marriage resources.

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Tags: deportation, gay couple, halted, judge

Australia: Former Judge Joins Push for Marriage Equality

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

FORMER High Court judge Michael Kirby says he longs for the day when gay marriage is legal but he and his partner Johan van Vloten probably wouldn’t tie the knot. Mr Kirby, whose biography Michael Kirby – Paradoxes and Principles by law academic Professor AJ Brown has just been released, said he would love to live to see the day where a leader of the country declared this a matter of the rights of citizens to equality.

“As it happens…Johan and I probably wouldn’t get married,” he told ABC radio.
“After all our engagement has gone on for 42 years so it’s getting a bit late in the day. But it ought to be there for those who want it.

“Religion should butt out of this. This is a matter of the civil rights of fellow citizens and it’s really not acceptable to deprive fellow citizens on the grounds of the religious views of some.”

Full Story from Perth Now

Click here for gay marriage resources in Australia.

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Tags: australia, judge, marriage equality, michael kirby

NE: Judge Won’t Let Lesbian Couple Divorce

Monday, January 31st, 2011

Further complicating the patchwork of marriage laws that exists in the United States, a Nebraska judge has ruled that because same-sex marriage is illegal in Nebraska, same-sex divorces aren’t allowed either.

Otoe County district judge Randall Rehmeier ruled that a lesbian couple legally married in Vermont eight years ago cannot be granted a divorce by the state of Nebraska because that state does not recognize same-sex marriage.

Full Story from The Advocate

Click here for gay marriage resources.

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Tags: judge, lesbian divorce, nebraska, ruling

CA: Appeals Court Judge Won’t Recuse Self From Prop 8 Case

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

A federal appeals court judge who had been asked to disqualify himself from hearing the case involving California’s same-sex marriage ban declined to withdraw Thursday, saying he could rule impartially.

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt was asked by supporters of Proposition 8 to recuse himself from the panel that Monday will hear an appeal of a decision that the voter initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman violates the Constitution.

Reinhardt is married to Ramona Ripston, longtime head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. The ACLU has filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the same-sex marriage case, urging the appeals court to uphold U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s Aug. 4 ruling quashing Proposition 8.

Full Story from The LA Times

Click here for gay marriage resources in California.

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Tags: appeals court, Gay Marriage, judge, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage, stephen reinhardt