The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an organization formed for the purpose of opposing same-sex marriages, filed an Application with Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Jr., asking him to put a stop to same-sex marriages in Oregon while NOM attempts to appeal District Judge Michael McShane’s ruling in Geiger v. Kitzhaber to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Application was accepted for filing by the Court on May 28. On the 29th, Justice … <Read More>
9th Circuit Panels Rule on Idaho Stay & California Campaign Disclosure Rules
Three-judge panels of the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued two rulings of some consequence from the perspective of LGBT rights on May 20. In one, the court delayed implementation of U.S. Magistrate Candy Dale’s ruling striking Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriages while expediting the court’s consideration of the merit’s of Idaho’s appeal of that ruling. In the other, the court rejected a challenge by Prop 8 Committees (organizations formed … <Read More>
Pennsylvania’s Next: U.S. District Judge Orders State to Allow and Recognize Same-Sex Marriages, and State Complies!
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, a Republican appointed to the federal district court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, by President George W. Bush in 2002, ruled on May 20 in Whitewood v. Wolf that Pennsylvania’s statutes banning same-sex marriages in the state or recognition of same-sex marriages formed outside the state violate the 14th Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. Judge Jones issued an order declaring both statutes unconstitutional and permanently enjoining the state … <Read More>
New York Trial Judge: Lesbian Spouse of Bio Mom is a Mother of Their Child Conceived Through Donor Insemination
This one would seem to be a no-brainer, but surprisingly the issue is not entirely clear even as we near the third anniversary of New York State’s Marriage Equality Law, which says that same-sex marriages and different-sex marriages are supposed to be treated equally for all purposes under New York Law. What happens if two women marry, decide to have a child through donor insemination, and then have a parting of the ways shortly after … <Read More>
“The Realistic Joneses” and “The City of Conversation” – New Plays on Broadway
I saw two new plays over the past week: “The Realistic Joneses” by Will Eno at the Lyceum Theatre, and “The City of Conversation” by Anthony Giardina at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center. I was drawn to the first by the cast — I was eager to see Michael C. Hall and Marisa Tomei — and to the second by the subject matter — the famed female political hostesses of Washington D.C. … <Read More>
Federal Court Says Utah Must Recognize Same-Sex Marriages That Were Celebrated Before the Supreme Court Stay
U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball ruled on May 19 that the state of Utah must recognize the same-sex marriages that were performed in the state from December 20 to January 6. Another federal district judge, Robert Shelby, ruled on December 20 in Kitchen v. Herbert that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Judge Shelby, and subsequently the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, refused to stay that decision pending appeal and more than 1300 … <Read More>
Federal Court Enjoins Oregon from Banning or Refusing to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages
Finding that the state has no rational basis for refusing to allow same-sex couples to marry or for refusing to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane issued a permanent injunction on May 19 barring the operation of the state’s marriage amendment and its statutory ban on same-sex marriage, and decreed that his order “be effective immediately.” Shortly after the decision was announced, same-sex couples began getting married in Oregon, … <Read More>
Federal Magistrate Judge Declares Idaho’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Unconstitutional
They just keep on coming… Hard on the heels of last week’s ruling by a state court judge in Arkansas that the state’s ban on same-sex marriages violates both the state and federal constitutions, a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Boise has ruled in Latta v. Otter that Idaho’s ban violates the 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Wagahoff Dale released her decision late on May 13, issuing an … <Read More>
4th Circuit Panel Holds Oral Argument in Virginia Marriage Cases
A panel of three judges of the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit conducted oral arguments on May 13 in Bostic v. Schaefer, an appeal by two county clerks of a district court decision that held Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The 4th Circuit had previously granted intervenor status on the appeal to the plaintiffs in another pending marriage case, Harris v. Rainey, so both pending federal court challenges to the … <Read More>
New York Appellate Division Rules on Erotic Asphyxiation Case
A unanimous four-judge panel of the New York Appellate Division, 2nd Department, based in Brooklyn, ruled that a jury erred in convicting Larry Davis of second degree murder in the death of his sexual partner, Richard McCoy, from asphyxiation. Finding that a jury could reasonably have acquitted Davis of the murder charge, the court reduced the conviction to manslaughter in the second degree and sent the case back to the trial judge, Justice Dineen Riviezzo … <Read More>