The Supreme Court ruled today that “same-sex couples may exercise the right to marry” and that “there is no lawful basis for a State to refuse to recognize a lawful same-sex marriage performed in another State on the ground of its same-sex character.” Writing for the Court, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Jr., grounded these marital rights in the 14th Amendment’s guarantee that no State may deprive any person of “liberty” without due process of law … <Read More>
Sodomy Suppression Act Bites the Dust
California Superior Court Judge Raymond M. Cadei awarded declaratory relief to Attorney General Kamala Harris, who sought to avoid circulating a proposed ballot initiative called the “Sodomy Suppression Act,” which had been proposed by one Matt McLaughlin, an attorney of questionable taste. The measure purported to authorize people to kill gays and lesbians by “bullets to the head” or “any other convenient method.” Normally, the Attorney General’s office does not get to screen proposed initiatives … <Read More>
N.Y. 4th Department Rejects Custody & Visitation Petition From Same-Sex Co-Parent
Relying on a quarter-century old N.Y. Court of Appeals precedent under which a same-sex co-parent is considered a “legal stranger” to the child she was raising with her former partner, the Appellate Division, 4th Department has affirmed a decision by Chautauqua County Family Court Judge Judith S. Claire to dismiss a petition for custody and visitation filed by Brooke S. Barone. The ruling in Barone v. Chapman, 2015 N.Y. App. Div. LEIS 5226, 2015 WL … <Read More>
New York Court Rejects Challenge to Gay Man’s Will
New York County Surrogate’s Court Judge Nora Anderson has rejected a challenge to the will of Mauricio Leyton, a gay man who had designated his former lover as executor and a principal beneficiary under a will he made in 2001, a year before the men had a commitment ceremony and several years before they ceased to live together as partners. Leyton’s mother and sister had challenged the will, arguing that David Hunter was disqualified under … <Read More>
Divided Texas Supreme Court Evades Deciding Gay Divorce Issue
With a ruling on same-sex marriage from the United States Supreme Court just days away, the Texas Supreme Court finally acted on June 19, 2015, on a pair of appeals argued nineteen months ago in November 2013, holding in State v. Naylor, 2015 Tex. LEXIS 581, that the state’s attorney general did not have standing to appeal an Austin trial judge’s order granting a judgment “intended to be a substitute for a valid and subsisting … <Read More>
Federal Housing Discrimination Law May Cover Some Sexual Orientation Discrimination Claims
A federal judge in Alabama has ruled that some sexual orientation discrimination claims may be made under the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), a statute that forbids sex discrimination by owners and operators of residential housing facilities. District Judge William M. Acker, Jr., ruling June 16 in Thomas v. Osegueda, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77627, 2015 WL 3751994 (N.D. Alabama), rejected the argument that the court would not have jurisdiction of any sexual orientation discrimination … <Read More>
Arkansas Trial Court Orders State Recognition of “Window Period” Marriages
An Arkansas trial judge ordered the state on June 9 to recognize and extend all rights and privileges of marriage to more than 500 same-sex couples who married during May 2014 while the state sought a stay of a trial judge’s order striking down Arkansas’s same-sex marriage ban.
On May 9, 2014, Arkansas Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled in Wright v. State of Arkansas, 60CV-13-2662, that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, … <Read More>
Federal Magistrate Refuses to Dismiss Gay Pilot’s Title VII Sex Discrimination Claim
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty refused to dismiss a claim by a gay airline pilot that his former employer discriminated against him in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by misrepresenting the reason for his discharge, thus making him virtually “unemployable” in the industry. Judge Hegarty’s May 11 ruling in Deneffe v. Skywest, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62019, 2015 WL 2265373 (D. Colo.), appears to mark a further … <Read More>
3rd Circuit Finds Federal Inspection Rules for Porn Producers Violate the 4th Amendment
A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on May 14 that federal inspection rules for producers of sexually-related materials violate the 4th Amendment. While rejecting a 1st Amendment challenge to the substance of rules requiring the producers to maintain written records of proof of age for all their performers, the court found that there was insufficient justification to allow government inspectors to demand access to those … <Read More>
Virgin Islands Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Second-Parent Adoptions
On May 20 the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands ruled that the Superior Court erred when it dismissed a second-parent adoption petition on the ground that the Virgin Islands did not recognize the Canadian same-sex marriage of the petitioners and granting the co-parent’s petition would require terminating the parental rights of the birth mother. In re L.O.F. & N.M., 2015 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 13. Eschewing a literal reading of the archaic adoption statutes, … <Read More>