The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled on August 19 that a judge deciding a divorce case for a lesbian couple could take into account the couple’s many years of cohabitation before the state made it possible for them to become civil union partners and then spouses, in deciding how to divide up their “marital assets.” The decision in Matter of Deborah Munson and Coralee Beal, 2016 N.H. LEXIS 180, 2016 WL 4411308, adopts a … <Read More>
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
LGBT Legal Organizations Call for Decriminalization of Sex Work as Federal Government Initiates Prosecution of Rentboy.com’s Owner and Employees
On August 20, leading LGBT rights legal organizations in the United States issued a joint statement supporting Amnesty International’s August 11 Resolution that advocates for the human rights of sex workers, including repeal of laws against prostitution. Just days later, on August 25, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) raided the New York City offices of Rentboy.com, the world’s largest on-line escorting website, carted away boxes of business records and computers, and arrested the … <Read More>
Supreme Court: Clearing Up the Cert Backlog After the DOMA and Prop 8 Decisions
Yesterday the Supreme Court decided U.S. v. Windsor, affirming the 2nd Circuit and holding that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates the 5th Amendment, and Hollingsworth v. Perry, holding that the initiative proponents of Proposition 8, who had been allowed to intervene in its defense at trial, lacked standing to appeal the district court’s ruling. The decisions will go into effect after the Court issues its mandate, which is normally … <Read More>