It seems that anything that could go wrong did go wrong – legally speaking, that is – when William Cornwell died on June 19, 2014, believing he had made a will leaving his entire estate to Thomas Doyle, the man with whom he had shared his life for more than half a century. Cornwell had not involved a lawyer in preparing and signing the will, apparently, because no lawyer would have made the simple mistake … <Read More>
Legal Issues
Arizona Appeals Court Adopts Gender-Neutral Construction of Paternity Statute in Same-Sex Couple Dispute
The Court of Appeals of Arizona ruled on October 11 that as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015), holding that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry and that their marriages must receive equal treatment under the law to those of different-sex couples, the Arizona courts must construe the state’s paternity statute in a gender neutral way so that the same-sex spouse of … <Read More>
Gay and Trans Plaintiffs Advance Title VII Discrimination Claims Using Sex Stereotyping Theory
Two federal trial courts have allowed Title VII claims by law enforcement officers, one gay and the other transgender, to proceed over employer protests early in October. On October 4, U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey granted summary judgment to Bradley Roberts, a transgender man employed as a police officer by the Clark County School District in Nevada, on his claim of gender discrimination in violation of Title VII and the Nevada Equal Rights Law, … <Read More>
Mass. SJC Rules Affirmatively on Same-Sex Partner Parentage Claim in Partanen v. Gallagher
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled on October 4 that the former same-sex partner of a woman who gave birth to two children through donor insemination during the women’s relationship can seek to establish full legal parentage of the children under the state’s statute concerning parentage of children born out of wedlock. Partanen v. Gallagher, SJC-12018, 2016 Mass. LEXIS 759, 2016 WL 5721061.
Although the state’s courts have in the past recognized various rights … <Read More>
Federal Court Rejects Transgender Citizen’s Complaints of Unconstitutional Treatment by NYPD Officers
In a decision notably lacking in empathy for transgender people and the slights and humiliations they suffer on a regular basis, U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods granted New York City’s motion to dismiss a complaint by Marlow White, self-identified as a man of transgender experience, that his 14th Amendment rights were violated by NYPD officers and the City when the police failed to respond to the continued verbal harassment of White by Napoleon … <Read More>
Vermont Supreme Court Finds Civil Union Dissolution Statute Still Relevant After Obergefell
Responding to the difficulties encountered by same-sex couples who entered into Vermont civil unions (and, beginning in 2009, same-sex marriages) and then lived in other states where their legal unions were denied recognition for purposes of dissolution or divorce, Vermont amended its divorce and annulment law in 2012 to provide that couples legally united in Vermont and living elsewhere who sought to dissolve their unions but had no vehicle to do that in the courts … <Read More>
Two Federal Judges Order Public Schools to Let Transgender Students Use Gender-Appropriate Restrooms
Within days of each other, two federal district judges have issued preliminary injunctions requiring public schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms consistent with the students’ gender identity. U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio, based in Cincinnati, issued his order on September 26 against the Highland Local School District on behalf of a “Jane Doe” 11-year-old elementary school student, in Board of Education v. U.S. Department of Education, … <Read More>
N.Y. Appellate Division Applies New Precedent to Find Standing for Gay Dad Seeking Custody
In what may be the first application of the recent New York Court of Appeals decision, Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C., 2016 N.Y. Slip Op 05903 (August 30, 2016), which adopted a new definition of “parent” for purposes of the state’s Domestic Relations Law so as to account for cases of same-sex couples raising children, the New York Appellate Division, 2nd Department, based in Brooklyn, ruled on September 6 that a gay man who was … <Read More>
N.J. Appellate Division Reverses Convictions of Dharun Ravi
The New Jersey Appellate Division, an intermediate appeals court, threw out a state court jury’s conviction of Dharun Ravi on fifteen different criminal counts, finding that trial evidence about how Ravi’s actions in September 2010 adversely affected his college dormitory roommate, Tyler Clementi, had tainted all the verdicts in the case because it may have caused the jury to convict Ravi based on the victim’s belief rather than the defendant’s intent. Five of the convictions … <Read More>
VA Nurse Loses Job For Manipulating Male Genitals During Physical Exams
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit rejected a Veterans Administration nurse’s challenge to his discharge for an unorthodox approach to diagnosing male genital warts in Riano v. McDonald, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15097 (Aug. 17, 2016).
James Riano, who worked as a registered nurse for the VA in Milwaukee, had previously worked as a hospital corpsman in the Navy. In 2004, he began working as an RN at the VA … <Read More>