By Lisa Keen on February 2, 2012
Most gay legal activists issued a subtle yawn in reaction to the 22-page decision Thursday by a federal appeals panel to keep the Proposition 8 trial videotapes under seal.
Posted in Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on January 25, 2012
The battle lines between the constitutional right to free exercise of religion and laws prohibiting discrimination are seeing some action at the U.S. Supreme Court these days.
Posted in News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on January 12, 2012
The Canadian Department of Justice told a court in Ontario this week that a lesbian couple from the U.S. and England who obtained a marriage license there in 2005 should not be granted a divorce now because they were not legally married in Canada.
Posted in Law, Marriage/Relationships
By Dana Rudolph on December 15, 2011
Karen Golinski never meant to become one of the headline names in the fight to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). All she wanted to do was to secure health care coverage for her legal spouse.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. District Courts
By Lisa Keen on November 17, 2011
In what amounts to a bump in the road for opponents of Proposition 8, a unanimous California Supreme Court told a federal appeals court November 17 that California law “authorizes” the proponents of the initiative to defend it in federal court even though state elected officials decided not to.
Posted in Issues, Marriage/Relationships, News, State Supreme Courts
By Dana Rudolph on November 10, 2011
A state district court in Iowa heard arguments November 7 in a case to determine whether the child born to a lesbian couple married in that state has the right to have the names of both her parents on her birth certificate.
Posted in Cases, Lawsuits, State Courts
By Lisa Keen on October 27, 2011
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund filed suit in a federal district court Thursday (October 27) challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act and its use in denying to gay service members spousal benefits equal to that given to their straight counterparts.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, U.S. District Courts
By Lisa Keen on October 18, 2011
The ACLU called it “one of the most important religious liberty cases in years” and said the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the matter would determine whether religious organizations have “the right to discriminate based on non-religious grounds.”
Posted in News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on October 11, 2011
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 11) refused to hear a case that challenged a sort of “back door discrimination” against a gay couple by a Louisiana state official.
Posted in Adoption, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on October 5, 2011
A fourth openly gay nominee–one who has been fairly heavily involved in both gay and non-gay legal and political issues and who spent “hundreds of hours” doing pro bono work that led to the elimination of a gay ban on FBI agents–has gone before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Posted in Federal Courts, News, Nominees, U.S. District Courts
By Lisa Keen on September 19, 2011
On the same day a Broadway play is to premiere to highlight the transcripts from the landmark Proposition 8 trial, a federal judge has ordered release of videotapes of the trial.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Marriage/Relationships, News, U.S. District Courts
By Lisa Keen on September 14, 2011
Remember last year’s Pledge to America from the Republican Party? It promised three times to make government “more transparent.”
Well, apparently, that pledge had a hidden expiration date.
Posted in Federal Courts, Marriage/Relationships, U.S. District Courts
By Dana Rudolph on September 8, 2011
Many contentious lawsuits involving the rights of LGBT people have occurred when a biological parent uses anti-LGBT laws to try and deny a child’s non-biological parent custody or visitation. Several LGBT organizations have published a revised set of standards aimed at stopping such behavior.
Posted in Adoption, Issues, Marriage/Relationships, News, State Courts
By Lisa Keen on September 6, 2011
Proponents of Proposition 8 argued Tuesday that Yes on 8 must be granted standing to defend the California same-sex marriage ban in federal court; opponents argued Yes on 8 must be denied standing.
Posted in Issues, Law, Marriage/Relationships, News, State Courts
By Lisa Keen on September 5, 2011
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be off the books September 20. But there is still concern among some that the removal of that specific law barring gays from the military will not stop discrimination against gays in the military.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Federal Courts, Issues, News
By Lisa Keen on August 25, 2011
Even before the August 29 hearing takes place on whether to release to the public videotapes of the landmark trial challenging California’s same-sex marriage ban–Proposition 8–there has already been decision to prohibit the recording of the hearing on whether to release the trial videotapes.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Chuck Colbert on August 23, 2011
A lesbian’s surviving spouse is fighting her parents in two different courts. In probate court in Illinois, they are fighting over her will. In a federal court in Pennsylvania, they are trying to influence a judge’s determination of who should receive the benefits of her profit-sharing plan.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits
By Lisa Keen on July 24, 2011
President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen signed and submitted a one-page written certification to Congress Friday afternoon (July 22) that the military is ready to implement repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Issues, Law, News
By Lisa Keen on July 15, 2011
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted an emergency order Friday night (July 15) temporarily reinstating its original stay of an order that had prohibited the government from enforcing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Circuit Courts
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