The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously ruled on August 22 that a wedding photography business violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act by refusing service to a lesbian couple for their same-sex commitment ceremony. The court held that the photography business owners’ religious and free speech rights were not unconstitutionally violated by this result. The case is Elane Photography v. Willock.
The case arose when Vanessa Willock contacted Elane Photography LLC by email to inquire
The Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously ruled on August 21 that the state’s court of appeals had correctly reversed the conviction of Daniel James Rick, an HIV-positive gay man who had transmitted HIV to his partner, finding that neither part of the state’s law penalizing “attempted first-degree assault by communicable disease” applied to his case. All five members of the Court who participated in the case approved Chief Justice Lorie Gildea’s opinion for the court. Two … <Read More>
The Putnam County (Florida) Circuit Court overstepped its authority when it ordered that a victim of domestic violence at the hands of a same-sex partner, as well as her son, submit to psychological evaluations, ruled the 5th District Court of Appeal in Touchet v. Jones, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 12809 (Aug. 16, 2013).
Sarah Touchet and Sandra Jones are a same-sex couple who lived together as a family raising a child. Touchet filed a … <Read More>
An August 8 decision by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (an intermediate appellate court) shows why same-sex couples, especially in states that do not provide any legal status for same-sex couples, should take the trouble to make wills and other legal documents to deal with contingencies, pending the time that same-sex marriage becomes available in the state. Although the court’s ruling in In re Estate of Richard A. Devoe, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2129, may … <Read More>
Last night I attended my second (and last) Mostly Mozart Festival Concert for this summer. The big news, as far as I am concerned, is the New York conducting debut of David Afkham, a young (b. 1983) German conductor, who led the orchestra in an all-Brahms concert.
Mr. Afkham, born in Freiburg and educated there and in Weimar, has had some prominent mentors: Bernard Haitink and Valery Gergiev (with whom Afkham served two years as … <Read More>
I’ve recently seen these three new films, and I would have to rank The Butler as the best of them. Forest Whitaker plays a man who served as a butler in the White House from the Eisenhower Administration through the Reagan Administration. The film is based on a true story, although names are changed and I don’t know how much of the detail of the film is true or imaginary. Oprah Winfrey plays his wife. … <Read More>
U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor (D. Mass.) has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a gay rights group, against Scott Lively, described in the complaint as an attorney, author, and evangelical minister who has allegedly work to “foment” what the plaintiff alleges to be “an atmosphere of harsh and frightening repression against LGBTI people in Uganda.” Ponsor found that the allegations in the complaint were sufficient to put … <Read More>
In recent years I have attended many of the annual Mostly Mozart Festival Concerts at Lincoln Center, but my schedule this year has made that difficult, since I was away the first week of August for Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and I will be away the last weekend in August for the Lavender Law Conference in San Francisco. But I am squeezing in two Mostly Mozart concerts, mainly because I particularly enjoy their Music Director, Louis … <Read More>
The California 4th District Court of Appeal affirmed a ruling by San Diego County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey B. Barton that a gay middle school teacher in the San Ysidro Unified School District exhibited “evident and characteristic unfitness for service” because of the way he used his classroom computer. The court rulings overturned a decision by a unanimous three-member panel of the Commission on Professional Competence, which had voted to dismiss all disciplinary charges against … <Read More>
This was my fourth year attending the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY, with my usual theater/opera-going companion. As we did last year, we signed up for all four presentations, although this time we spread it out over four days instead of trying to cram it all into three days with a Saturday matinee. One program a night proved an enjoyable, civilized pace, with plenty of variety, leaving us free for rest, relaxation and exploration during … <Read More>