A unanimous five-judge bench of the New York Appellate Division, 3rd Department, an intermediate appellate court that hears appeals from state agency rulings in Albany, upheld a decision by the State Division of Human Rights (SDHR) that Liberty Ridge Farm LLC, an upstate business corporation that rents facilities for wedding ceremonies and other life-cycle events, violated the state’s Human Rights Law (HLR) in 2012 when the business turned away a lesbian couple looking for … <Read More>
Legal Issues
Federal Court Applies U.S. v. Windsor Retroactively to Allow Lesbian Widow to Seek Pension Benefit
U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ruled on January 4 in Schuett v. FedEx Corporation, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 244, 2015 WL 39890 (N.D. Cal.), that the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in U.S. v. Windsor, striking down Section 3, a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), could be applied retroactively to allow Stacey Schuett, a lesbian widow, to sue her late spouse’s employer for a survivor annuity. Although the judge rejected a … <Read More>
Judith Kaye, a champion of lesbian & gay rights, dies at 77
Retired Chief Judge Judith Kaye of the New York Court of Appeals died on January 7, 2016, at age 77. Most accounts of her passing mentioned her dissenting opinion in the case of Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d 338 (2006), the case in which the state’s highest court voted against the claim that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, as one of her most notable opinions, but this was merely the capstone of … <Read More>
Federal Court Enjoins Tennessee School District’s Censorship of Student’s Pro-Gay T-Shirt
U.S. District Judge Kevin H. Sharp presented an early Christmas present to Rebecca Young, a student at Richland High School in Giles County, Tennessee, awarding her a preliminary injunction against school authorities who had forbidden her from wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “Some People are Gay, Get Over It.” Young v. Giles County Board of Education, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170695, 2015 WL 9413877 (M.D. Tennessee, Dec. 22, 2015).
Young showed up for … <Read More>
Lambda Legal’s Wisconsin Birth Certificate Litigation Hits Speed Bump
Lambda Legal’s federal lawsuit seeking to compel Wisconsin officials to issue appropriate birth certificates for children of married same-sex couples hit a speed bump on December 16 when U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb denied Lambda’s motion for class certification and summary judgment in Torres v. Rhoades, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169965, 2015 WL 9304584 (W.D. Wis.). Lambda sued on behalf of plaintiffs Chelsea Torres and Jessamy Torres and their minor child, A.T. A.T. … <Read More>
California Appeals Court Rules for Gay Teacher in Morality Discharge Dispute
The California 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld a determination by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin that the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Commission on Professional Competence erred when it found a gay elementary school teacher who had been arrested in a park sting was “unfit to teach” and authorized termination of his employment. Rodriguez v. Commission on Professional Competence, 2015 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 9062, 2015 WL 8767581 (Dec. … <Read More>
Discharged Atlanta Fire Chief Strikes Back in Federal Lawsuit
Kelvin J. Cochran, who was discharged as Chief of the Atlanta, Georgia, Fire and Rescue Department (AFRD) after he self-published a book asserting negative views about homosexuality and same-sex marriage based on his religious beliefs, has struck back at the City and Mayor Kasim Reed with a lawsuit claiming a violation of his constitutional rights. On December 16, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May issued a ruling dismissing some of Cochran’s claims, but allowing others … <Read More>
Catholic Girls School May Not Discriminate Against Gay Married Employee
A recurring question since marriage equality became legal has been whether religious institutions can freely discriminate in their employment practices against married gay couples, relying on statutory religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws or constitutional claims. In a case involving a food service worker who lost a job with a Catholic girls school, a Massachusetts trial judge ruled on December 16 that the answer is “no,” at least in a case involving a job that plays … <Read More>
Federal Court Refuses to Dismiss Sexual Orientation Discrimination Claim Under Title IX
United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson ruled on December 15 that two students at Pepperdine University could sue the school for sexual orientation discrimination under Title IX, a federal statute that prohibits sex discrimination by educational institutions that receive federal money. Videckis v. Pepperdine University, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167672 (C.D. Calif.). The ruling rejecting the school’s motion to dismiss the discrimination claims advanced by Haley Videckis and Layana White is the first under … <Read More>
Lesbian Mom’s Case Closer To Supreme Court Review
A lesbian mother’s quest for joint custody of the children she had adopted in Georgia and raised together with her former same-sex partner took a step closer to the Supreme Court on Monday, December 14, when the Court granted her “Application for Recall and Stay of Certificate of Judgment of Alabama Supreme Court.” V.L. v. E.L., No. 15-648. V.L. is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a September 18 ruling by the Alabama Supreme … <Read More>