A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled on July 26 that a for-profit business corporation has no right to free exercise of religion under the 1st Amendment, rejecting a contrary doctrine that had been adopted by the 9th and 10th Circuits and setting up the possibility that the Supreme Court may intervene on a question that has become very salient in the context of marriage equality: Can business
… <Read More> Court Awards Survivor’s Benefits to Same-Sex Spouse
U.S. District Judge C. Darnell Jones, II (E.D.Pa.), ruled July 29 that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) should be construed, now that DOMA Section 3 has been declared unconstitutional, to recognize a same-sex marriage for purposes of an employee benefit plan when the married couple resided in a state that recognized the validity of the marriage. The ruling means that Jennifer J. Tobits will be entitled to a survivor’s benefit under the … <Read More>
Hugh Jackman in “Wolverine”
Saw the new Wolverine movie. The big question – are those really Hugh Jackman’s muscles, or is this CGI at work? Actually, this is a fast, sometimes confusing, CGI-afflicted succession of stunt scenes. You will stay awake, but at the end you will wonder what it was for. I think CGI has gone too far now, and it has made it altogether too easy for filmmakers to go over the top and not even bother … <Read More>
Jonathan Tolins’ “Buyer & Cellar” with Michael Urie at Barrow Street Theatre
Last night I attended a performance of Jonathan Tolins’ play “Buyer & Cellar” starring Michael Urie at the Barrow Street Theatre in Greenwich Village, NYC. This was a total delight, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Of course, I was predisposed to like it, because I am a big fan of Michael Urie, who is one of the most adorable openly-gay leading men in theater, films and television. I remember seeing him in “The … <Read More>
Primary Stages’ Production of “Harbor” by Chad Beguelin
Warning: Plot Spoilers!
Primary Stages, an innovative off-Broadway Theater Company, is presenting “Harbor,” a two-act play by Chad Beguelin, directed by Mark Lamos, at 59E59 Theaters in Manhattan. I saw last night’s performance. A main draw to see this is the casting of Randy Harrison, a favorite from the “Queer As Folk” TV series, in the role of Kevin Adams-Weller, an aspiring writer recently married to his long-time boyfriend, architect Ted Adams-Weller, played by Paul … <Read More>
9th Circuit Orders Withholding of Removal for Gay Man from Philippines
A unanimous panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, ruled on July 24 in Vitug v. Holder, 2013 Westlaw 3814772, that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) should not have reversed a ruling by an Immigration Judge (IJ) that Dennis Vitug, a gay man from the Philippines, was entitled to remain in the United States under U.S. laws providing refuge for people subjected to persecution in their home countries. … <Read More>
Ohio Federal Judge Orders Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage
U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black has ordered that a Cincinnati same-sex couple married in Maryland is entitled to a temporary restraining order requiring the local Ohio Registrar of death certificates in Cincinnati to record them as married when one, fatally ill, passes away. The July 22 ruling followed a dramatic trip on July 11 by James Obergefell and John Arthur in a special medically-equipped jet to an airport in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, where … <Read More>
Confusion over Jury Charge Causes Reversal in New York Hate Crime Conviction
Jury confusion about how to deal with a defendant charged under New York’s hate crime statute has resulted in an appellate ruling setting aside the guilty verdict in hate crime homicide as “inconsistent” in People of New York v. Delee, 2013 WL 3766913 (Appellate Division, 4th Dep’t., July 19, 2013).
Dwight R. Delee shot and killed a victim identified by the court as “a young man who dressed as a woman and was known … <Read More>
4th Circuit Panel Acquits Gay Man Arrested in North Carolina Sting Operation
Reversing decisions by U.S. District Judge Martin K. Reidiner and a U.S. Magistrate Judge, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to acquit a gay man who had been convicted of disorderly conduct for groping an undercover federal ranger who had targeted him in a vice sting operation in November 2009 at the Sleepy Gap Overlook of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Buncombe County, North Carolina, near the city … <Read More>
Lincoln Center Festival’s production of Toshio Hosokawa’s “Matsukaze”
Last night I attended the New York premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s one-act opera, “Matsukaze,” presented as part of this summer’s Lincoln Center Festival at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan a few blocks from Lincoln Center. To the best of my recollection, this is the first time I’ve been in this theater. It’s a bit out-of-the-way, several long blocks … <Read More>