In an astonishing departure from established precedents, U.S. District Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez of the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, who had dismissed a marriage equality lawsuit on October 21, 2014, has issued a new decision on March 8, 2016, Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29651, asserting that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26, 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, that the 14th Amendment of the … <Read More>
Legal Issues
Federal Court Finds No Substantive Due Process Protection for BDSM Sex
U.S. District Judge Thomas Selby Ellis, III, has rejected the argument that a consensual BDSM relationship is protected against government regulation by the 14th Amendment. Ruling in a case brought by a George Mason University student who was expelled after his former girlfriend, an undergraduate at another school called Jane Roe in the opinion, charged him with violations of the student Code of Conduct including BDSM sex, Ellis rejected the claim that the school’s … <Read More>
Supreme Court Orders Full-Faith and Credit for Lesbian Co-Parent Adoption
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court and ordered that Alabama courts accord “full faith and credit” to a lesbian co-parent adoption that was approved by a Georgia trial court. The March 7 decision in V.L. v. E.L., No. 15-648, was reached without any oral argument before the high court, and the opinion was issued “per curiam” without any dissent from the Court’s conservative members.
The Alabama Supreme Court’s … <Read More>
Sloppy Arkansas Legislation Leaves LGBT Rights Law Intact
By Arthur S. Leonard
Last year Arkansas legislators were determined to prevent local governments from passing laws banning discrimination against LGBT people, so they passed Act 137, which says that counties, municipalities and other “political subdivisions” of the State of Arkansas “shall not adopt or enforce an ordinance that creates a protected classification or prohibits discrimination on a basis not contained in state law.” They obviously thought that they had erected a firewall against any … <Read More>
Kentucky Supreme Court Lets Lesbian Co-Parent Block Adoption Petition by Former Partner’s Husband
The Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously ruled on February 18 in A.H. v. W.R.L. & M., 2016 Ky. LEXIS 14, that the lesbian co-parent of a child had a right to intervene in an adoption proceeding that had been initiated by the new husband of her former same-sex partner. Facing a case of “first impression” for the Kentucky courts, Justice Bill Cunningham wrote that the Kentucky Court of Appeals had incorrectly reversed the trial court’s decision … <Read More>
N.Y. Federal Judge Refuses to Remand Sexual Orientation Discrimination Claim to State Court
Elizabeth Koke filed an action in New York State Supreme Court against the City University of New York, The Feminist Press and its executive director, Jennifer Baumgardner, alleging that she suffered unlawful employment discrimination because of her gender and actual or perceived sexual orientation in violation of Title VII and the New York State and City Human Rights laws, and also asserting other state law claims. CUNY, “with the consent of the other defendants,” removed … <Read More>
Anti-Gay Justice Scalia Exits the Stage
With the death of Antonin Scalia the Supreme Court has lost its most outspoken anti-gay member. Ever since taking his seat on the high bench in 1986, Justice Scalia voted consistently against gay rights claims, sometimes in the majority and sometimes in dissent, regardless of the factual context in which they arose.
Scalia was appointed to the Court by President Ronald Reagan shortly after the Court had decided Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), the notorious case … <Read More>
Sloppy Health Care Provider Owes Over $1.1 Million Damages for HIV Confidentiality Breach
A Delaware trial judge has ordered a health care provider to pay more than $1.1 million in damages to a man who convinced a jury that he lost his job because the provider faxed information about his HIV-related treatment to his workplace. Superior Court Judge Mary Johnston, finding that the “verdicts are ones that a reasonably prudent jury could have reached,” rejected the defendant’s post-trial motion to set aside the verdict or lower the damage … <Read More>
Texas Appeals Panel Denies Transgender Man Standing to Bring Paternity Action Concerning Children He Was Parenting
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of Texas in San Antonio issued a new opinion on January 27, reaffirming a prior ruling issued on August 12 of last year, that a transgender man who had been parenting children adopted by his long-time former female partner lacked standing to seek custody and visitation rights because he didn’t assert such a claim shortly after the couple broke up. At the same time, the full bench … <Read More>
Compassionate Use Act and Disability Discrimination Laws Do Not Shield HIV-Positive Marijuana User from Discharge
Judge William P. Johnson of the U.S. District Court in New Mexico ruled on January 7 that a man living with HIV who is using medical marijuana under New Mexico’s Compassionate Use Statute could not contest his discharge under his employer’s drug use policy, finding that the employer was not required to accommodate the man’s disability by waiving its requirement that its employees refrain from using marijuana. Garcia v. Tractor Supply Company, 2016 WL … <Read More>