Refusing the Christie Administration’s request to stay Judge Mary Jacobson’s September 27 ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in New Jersey, the state’s supreme court unanimously ruled on October 18 that Jacobson’s order will go into effect on October 21. Although the court will hear oral arguments in January on the merits of the case, the opinion by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner strongly signals that the state will most likely lose … <Read More>
Oregon to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages from Other Jurisdictions
Relying on an opinion letter from Oregon Deputy Attorney General Mary H. Williams (dated October 16), which concluded that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Windsor and the 9th Circuit’s vacated decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry it would violate the 14th Amendment for Oregon to decline to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions, the state’s Chief Operating Officer and Director of the Department of Administrative Services, Michael Jordan, sent a memorandum … <Read More>
Gay Man Arrested in Spurious Prostitution Bust Entitled to Trial Against New York City for Constitutional Torts
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin has ruled that Robert Pinter, a gay man who claims to have been wrongly arrested on October 10, 2008, and wrongly prosecuted in a scheme by New York City officials to go after adult businesses by accumulating lots of prostitution arrests, is entitled to his day in court against the City. Denying a motion for summary judgment on most of Pinter’s federal claims in Pinter v. City of New York, … <Read More>
Federal Judge Schedules February 25 Trial on Constitutionality of Michigan Marriage Amendment
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman heard arguments on October 16 from the state of Michigan and lawyers for a lesbian couple who want to jointly adopt each other’s children, before announcing that he was denying each side’s motion for summary judgment and scheduling a February 25 trial on the constitutionality of the Michigan Marriage Amendment. The Amendment’s constitutionality is an issue in the case because Michigan’s adoption statute only allows couples who are married to … <Read More>
NY Philharmonic Debuts: Arabella Steinbacher & Joshua Weilerstein
The NY Philharmonic’s most recent subscription program presented debuts for the soloist and the conductor. Violinist Arabella Steinbacher, already an established recording artist in Europe, performed the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn, and Joshua Weilerstein, an assistant conductor of the orchestra, made his subscription concert debut. (Presumably he has already led the orchestra several times in non-subscription events, such as the Young Peoples’ Concerts.) I attended the last performance of this program, … <Read More>
A Voice of Reason on HIV and Blood Donation – From Ireland
In the United States, men who have had sex with men (even once) since 1977 are permanently disqualified from donating blood. This rule, adopting by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the mid-1980s shortly after epidemiological studies had demonstrated that whatever was causing AIDS was probably a blood-borne pathogen, but also shortly before the particular viral vector had been shown and well before there was detailed information about how it was transmitted and what … <Read More>
Peoples’ Symphony Concerts Launch 114th Season with Piano Recital by Lise de la Salle
The Peoples’ Symphony Concerts organization launched their 114th season on Saturday night, October 12, 2013, presenting a piano recital by Lise de la Salle in the newly-renovated auditorium at Washington Irving High School in Manhattan. Miss de la Salle, who has play previously at PSC, offered a program of Bach-Busoni, Debussy, and Schumann, with two encores of Liszt elaborations of songs by Schumann and Schubert.
I first became acquainted with de la Salle’s playing through … <Read More>
“Alarm Will Sound” Initiates Met Museum Residency with “The Permanent Collection” Concert
On October 11 I attended the first concert of the contemporary-music group “Alarm Will Sound” in its residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Met has a splendid small auditorium which is perfectly sized for a “sinfonietta” group like “Alarm Will Sound,” which is smaller than a chamber orchestra but larger than a chamber music ensemble.
AWS Music Director Alan Pierson explained in the program note that the group will … <Read More>
New Jersey Marriage Case Moves Swiftly to State Supreme Court
After Mercer County Superior Court Judge Jacobson issued her decision on September 27 holding that same-sex couples have a state constitutional right to marry in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie reiterated his opposition to having this issue decided by the courts and announced that the state would ask the NJ Supreme Court to take up the case up directly on appeal, by-passing the NJ Appellate Division of the Superior Court. At the same time, the … <Read More>
New Jersey Superior Court Denies Motion to Stay Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson has denied a motion by the New Jersey government to stay her decision ordering that the state begin granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples by October 21. In a decision issued today (October 10), Jacobson found that none of the factors considered by courts in deciding such motions were met, and that the public interest would be served by allowing her decision to go into effect. The … <Read More>