By Lisa Keen on August 4, 2010
Senator Jon Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, said he would oppose Elena Kagan’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court because she has “a history of ignoring the law when it conflicts with the gay rights agenda.”
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, News, Nominees, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on August 4, 2010
Proposition 8 passed in November 2008 because parents with kids living at home were scared and the LGBT community did nothing to assuage that fear.
Posted in A closer look, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on July 20, 2010
Both “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and same-sex marriage continued to be a prominent focus of the confirmation proceedings for Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday recommended the confirmation.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, News, Nominees, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on July 14, 2010
While most people who are concerned about eliminating the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law are focused on a bill in Congress and a survey by the Pentagon, there is important action elsewhere—in a federal district court in Riverside, California.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, News
By Lisa Keen on July 8, 2010
In an enormous victory for same-sex marriage, a federal judge in Boston Thursday, July 8, ruled—in two separate lawsuits—that a critical part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on July 8, 2010
In an enormous victory for same-sex marriage, a federal judge in Boston today ruled, in two separate cases, that a critical part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on June 30, 2010
Never before in the history of Supreme Court confirmation hearings have gay issues played such a prominent role.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, News, Nominees, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on June 29, 2010
One message Republicans tried to hammer away at this week, in an effort to derail Elena Kagan’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, must have struck many LGBT viewers of her confirmation hearing as deeply ironic.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, Nominees, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on June 28, 2010
For the second time in a week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion that delivered a small, indirect, and perhaps unfinished victory to policies that have benefited the LGBT community.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, U.S. Supreme Court
By Samantha Fields on June 27, 2010
An informal survey by the Washington Post published June 18 asked a tiny number of well-placed experts—six—to say what they think will happen if federal Judge Vaughn Walker overturns California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Two of the six pointed to existing polling data to warn of the potential for a negative impact.
Posted in A closer look, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on June 24, 2010
In a ruling hailed by gay activists, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law that requires public disclosure of the names of people who signed a petition to put an anti-gay referendum on the ballot in Washington State. But litigation may not yet be finished.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on June 24, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld a law that requires public disclosure of the names of people who signed a petition to put an anti-gay referendum on the ballot in Washington State.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on June 22, 2010
It’s been clear since Elena Kagan was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court that her confirmation hearing would be unusually focused on things gay.
First, there were the complaints that she barred military recruiters from Harvard Law School while she was dean. Then, came rumors that she herself is gay. And finally, there has been a generalized fear expressed by right-wing groups that she’s liberal enough to reverse the Defense of Marriage Act.
But there’s surprisingly little support for any of these assumptions in the thousands of emails, memoranda, and other documents submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee from the archives of the Clinton White House.
Posted in A closer look, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Marriage/Relationships, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on June 16, 2010
There were so many people trying to get in to watch the final day of the landmark trial challenging California’s same-sex marriage ban, the court staff had to set up an additional overflow room for observers.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on June 16, 2010
Conservative attorney Ted Olson relied heavily this morning on comparisons between the current ban on same-sex marriage and the ban that existed in the 1960’s on interracial marriage.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on June 9, 2010
The federal judge presiding over the highly publicized Proposition 8 trial distributed to attorneys on both sides of the controversy a list of 39 questions he’d like them to address during closing arguments June 16. It’s the kind of list, said one veteran gay legal scholar, that promises his decision will likely be a “blockbuster in its scope.”
Posted in A closer look, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on May 27, 2010
For the second time in three weeks, a federal judge in Boston heard arguments in a lawsuit that asks the court to strike down a significant part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on May 13, 2010
The number of results from a Google search of “Elena Kagan” plus the word “gay” more than doubled from 722,000 on Monday, when President Obama nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court, to 1,950,000 on Tuesday night, when Politico.com reported two friends said she is not gay.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on May 11, 2010
Gay legal activists are applauding President Obama’s second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court: Solicitor General Elena Kagan. But it could hardly be described as a standing ovation.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on May 7, 2010
Gay legal activists feel they got a good hearing from U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro May 6, in the first federal district court hearing to examine the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, News
Leahy submits language to help bi-national same-sex couples
Delaware votes for marriage equality; becomes 11th state to make it the law
Rhode Island marriage law signed; Two more states could vote next week
President praises pro athlete Jason Collins for courage to come out
Rhode Island marriage bill clears final hurdle with all Republicans