Claiming that a married lesbian had no need to adopt the child born to her same-sex spouse, Kings County (Brooklyn) Surrogate Court Judge Margarita Lopez Torres refused to entertain her adoption petition in Matter of Seb C-M, NYLJ 1202640083455 (Jan. 6, 2014).
Torres reasoned that under New York’s Marriage Equality Law, same-sex marriages enjoy the same presumptions of parental status that are accorded to different-sex marriages. Thus, a child born to a married woman is … <Read More>
Now, there’s an odd couple… But that was my musical weekend.
On Saturday night, I attended the all-Beethoven program by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. I had been privileged to attend a dress rehearsal for part of this program a week earlier at the DiMenna Center, hearing final sessions with piano soloist Nobuyuki Tsoji in the Emperor Concerto, as well as rehearsal of the Coriolan Overture and of their planned encore, the slow movement … <Read More>
Recently inaugurated as Attorney General of Virginia, Democrat Mark Herring, who had run on a platform supporting same-sex marriage, was immediately faced with a strategic decision. The Attorney General’s office represents the state’s Registrar of Vital Records, Janet M. Rainey, who is the lead defendant in two federal lawsuits challenging the state’s constitutional and statutory ban on same-sex marriage. One lawsuit, brought by private plaintiffs who are now represented by David Boies and Ted Olson … <Read More>
A man who responded to a Craigslist ad placed by a lesbian couple in Kansas seeking a sperm donor to help them have a child is considered the legal father of the child, ruled a Kansas judge on January 22, because he provided his sperm directly to the couple in a sample cup rather than submitting it to them through a doctor. The court found unenforceable a document that the man and the couple had … <Read More>
A unanimous three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today in Smithkline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories that a new trial has to be held because Abbott, the defendant in a civil suit involving claims about the pricing of HIV medications, used one of its “peremptory challenges” to exclude a gay man from the jury. The court found that excluding people from a jury because they are gay violates the … <Read More>
I have been so busy with LGBT legal developments over the past month that I have neglected to blog about my various cultural expeditions, so I’m going to play catch-up here with a few brief comments about the events I’ve attended since mid-December.
On December 17, I saw Lincoln Center Theater’s production of “Domesticated,” a play by Bruce Norris which seems to have been inspired, at least in part, by the hit network TV show, … <Read More>
A three-judge panel of the Boston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit voted 2-1 to affirm the district court’s decision that the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) violated the 8th Amendment when it refused to provide sex-reassignment surgery for Michelle Kosilek, who is serving a life-sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder of her wife. The ruling may not conclude the action, since the state’s staunch opposition to providing the surgery … <Read More>
Yet another federal district judge has declared a state constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriages an unconstitutional infringement of rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On January 14, Senior U.S. District Judge Terence C. Kern, who has been dealing with the case of Bishop v. United States since 2004, held that the constitutional amendment adopted by an overwhelming vote of Oklahoma citizens that year, fails to meeting the deferential “rationality review” test … <Read More>
The announced artist for this afternoon’s Peoples’ Symphony Concerts program at New York’s Town Hall was the eminent Hungarian pianist, Radu Lupu. But, alas, Mr. Lupu was ill and had to cancel several concert dates, including this one. In his place, we had a young fellow, Kuok-Wai Lio, in his mid-20s and just starting out on the concert circuit. This recital was undoubtedly a big break for him, and he made the most of it.… <Read More>
On December 20, 2013, US District Judge Shelby ruled in Kitchen v. Herbert that Utah’s constitutional amendment and statutes banning the performance or recognition of same-sex marriages violated the 14th Amendment. He was ruling on cross-motions for summary judgment. Since the state’s motion did not ask him to grant a stay in case his ruling went against them, he didn’t stay his ruling, which culminated in an injunction barring enforcement of the same-sex marriage ban. … <Read More>