Neff: In Texas, only gay marriage is til death do they part
Spouses can’t always take that bit about “till death do us part” literally.
And judges and lawyers don’t always take that bit about “till death do us part” literally either. Some dedicate their workdays dissolving such vows.
Yet in some states that don’t recognize same-sex marriages, same-sex marriages could last till death do they part.
Oh, these funny times.
A Dallas man, identified only as J.B. in court papers and the press, is trying to divorce a man he married four years ago in Massachusetts and separated from — amicably enough — two years ago.
J.B. was winning his case for divorce before District Judge Tena Callahan, when the Texas Attorney General tried to intervene and stop the process. It seems that because the state of Texas does not recognize same-sex marriages, the court shouldn’t divorce the two men, according to the AG.
Callahan ruled against the AG, which appealed her decision.
“My client is a married man and he needs a divorce. But for the actions of the attorney general, there would already be one less same-sex marriage in Texas,” attorney Jody Scheske told a three-judge appeals court panel in a hearing last week.
Oh, these funny times.
“The parties lack standing to file a divorce because they are not married. If you are not party to a marriage, you cannot file for a divorce,” an assistant Texas solicitor general argued last week before the federal appeals court.
The assistant Texas solicitor general said, the court should “void” the union not divorce the men.
An annulment, then, is Texas’ preferred alternative to a gay couple’s divorce.
Oh, these funny times.
The stakes in this Texas case are considerable, because in finding that she has standing to hear the gay man’s request for a divorce, Callahan also found that Texas’ 2005 constitutional amendment that defines marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman violates the right to equal protection and therefore violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Had the Texas Attorney General not tried to intervene and block the court from hearing the divorce case, the district court judge might not have deemed the anti-gay amendment unconstitutional. We don’t know really. Callahan might have taken up the constitutional issue, or she simply might have granted the divorce.
Attorneys for J.B. say they didn’t want a constitutional fight or a federal case — just a divorce for their client.
“My client’s very private matter has become a public spectacle,” Scheske told the court last week.
Oh, these funny times.
J.B., seeking to end his marriage, is at the forefront of a legal dispute that could tear down a ban against gay marriage in Texas.
And opponents of gay marriage are worried, which is why the Plano-based right-wing Liberty Institute argued alongside the attorney general against what it called “judicial activism at it’s worst.”
Opposing J.B.’s divorce, Liberty Institute attorney Hiram Sasser said a gay divorce is an attack on same-sex marriage.
Oh, these funny times.
And Sasser, who said he represented the two authors of the anti-gay amendment that 76 percent of Texas voters supported in 2005, cited Bill Clinton in his defense of the Texas ban and his opposition to the gay couple’s divorce.
Clinton signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act that allowed states to refuse to honor another state’s same-sex marriage and defined marriage at the federal level as the union of one man and one woman.
“I think President Clinton said it best when he said we have to honor the decisions of the states,” Sasser said.
The former president, however, has said that his position on same-sex marriage is evolved and he “didn’t like signing DOMA.”
Oh, these funny times.
Ford Jr. gets tough reception from Stonewall Dems
(New York) Former Tennessee congressman and potential U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. got a tough reception while speaking to a gay advocacy group, and tried to explain he no longer opposes gay marriage.
Ford had voted twice for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and …
Homosexuals dispel myth of “progressive”
Each year in Germany, from the end of June through August, gay and lesbian rights’ activists celebrate the “Stonewall” uprising – named after a gay bar on Christopher Street in New York, where homosexuals fought back against police brutality in 1969.
Participants in the German parades known as “Christopher Street Day” join other activists around the world who take to the streets to demonstrate gay pride and demand greater freedoms.
Some of those freedoms would include expanded civil rights. In Germany, civil unions, for instance, have been permitted among same-sex couples since 2001, but full marriages are not. Homosexual couples therefore do not enjoy the same rights as married heterosexual couples when it comes to taxes, retirement, civil servant benefits, or adoption law.
For more on gay and lesbian rights and the community in Germany, click on the links below, or listen to this week’s “Living in Germany” program to hear a more personal account of a homosexual civil union.
DW-WORLD.DE
Audios and videos on the topic
See Homosexuals dispel myth of “progressive” Germany Deutsche Welle
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Courts unlikely to strike down new domestic partner registry until after it begins
An attorney for those hoping to strike down Wisconsin’s new legal protections for domestic partners says he hopes the Supreme Court will decide their request in a matter of weeks.
But by then, gay couples will have already started registering at county courthouses for the benefits. Those sign-ups begin a week from Monday.
Three members of the Wisconsin Family Action group asked the Supreme Court yesterday to declare the domestic partner registry unconstitutional.
They say it violates the constitutional amendment against gay marriage and civil unions which group members helped pass in 2006.
The group calls it an effort to redefine marriage in Wisconsin. But a spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle, who included the registry in the new state budget, says it’s just a set of basic protections, and it has nothing to do with promoting gay marriage.
Four of the seven justices would have to agree to take the case, and their new session does not begin until September.
See Courts unlikely to strike down new domestic partner registry until … Hudson Star Observer
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State Rep Rod Roberts to campaign for Governorship on Pledge to End Gay Marriage in Iowa
State Rep. Rod Roberts says he is exploring a possible run for Iowa governor and that if elected he will push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Iowa. See Roberts takes first step in run for Iowa governor
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Wisconsin budget extends rights to gay couples
With the budget signed Monday by Gov. Jim Doyle, Wisconsin has become the first state with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions to put in place domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.
Wisconsin also is the first Midwestern state to legislatively put in place legal protections for same-sex couples, according to advocates.
But supporters of the ban still contend the creation of domestic partner benefits violates the constitutional amendment on marriage because it creates a legal status that approximates marriage — and they could file a legal challenge soon.
Starting Aug. 3, couples will be able to apply for a declaration of domestic partnership in their home counties. Partnerships would be dissolved through a termination process at the county clerk’s office.
Some counties and municipalities already
*ecognize domestic partnerships, including Dane County and the city of Milwaukee. But Maria Cadenas, executive director of the Cream City Foundation, an advocacy group on gay and transgender issues, said that for her and her partner, registering in Milwaukee only affected their gym membership.
See Wisconsin budget extends rights to gay couples
Duluth News Tribune
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Louisiana gay couple sues for marriage license
(Louisiana) A Louisiana couple has filed a lawsuit after being turned away by officials at the Orleans Parish marriage license office on April 2 because they were both men. The couple is saying the New Orleans’ constitutional amendment against gay marriage violates their constitutional rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Kristoffer Bonilla …
Mich. lawmaker seeks to recognize gay marriage
A Michigan lawmaker said she wants to change state law to recognize gay marriages.
The proposal announced by State Rep. Pam Byrnes faces an uphill climb. Michigan voters in 2004 passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, effectively banning the legal recognition of …
A Great Lakes shift on gay rights? Detroit Free Press
Poll numbers released last week indicate that Michigan voters, who only five years ago overwhelming supported a constitutional amendment that limits marriage to one man and one woman, may be softening on the question of gay marriage and other rights for same-sex couples.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090607/NEWS06/906070461&s=d&page=2#pluckcomments”>This story by Free Press reporter Dawson Bell details the results of a May 27-29 survey by Chicago-based http://www.glengariffgroup.com/“>Glengariff Group, which showed support for gay marriage in Michigan at 46%, with opposition at 48%.
The 2004 constitutional amendment was approved 61% to 24%.
The poll also found majority support for hospital visitation rights, benefits for public employees and adoption rights for same-sex couples.
If accurate (and every poll is susceptible to some error) this would mark a pretty dramatic swing in public opinion. And if you think about it, a lot has happened in the past two years to shape public opinion more favorably toward equal rights for same-sex couples.
Michigan passed its constitutional amendment at what seemed like the tail end of the national haste to “protect” marriage through referenda. Since then, several other states have actually embraced gay marriage – New Hampshire and Iowa, hardly bastions of liberalism, being the latest. New Hampshire, with its traditional libertarian leanings, is a particularly notable example, as it suggests that support for gay marriage may be picking up steam on the backs of factions other than traditional left-wing constituencies.
See A Great Lakes shift on gay rights? Detroit Free Press
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Gay Republican Sen. Koering eyeing governors seat
Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, told the Pioneer Press he’s thinking about jumping into the race for governor in 2010. Koering, a gay man, opened up about his sexual orientation in 2005 during a bitter debate over a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Koering said he is “forming an exploratory committee and will be talking to state party leaders, delegates, and community leaders to gauge the possibility of a 2010 gubernatorial run.”
Of the other announced GOP candidate, he told PiPress’ Rachel Stassen-Berger that, “I’d don’t [sic] think they have nothing on me. I guess I get worried that if it is just going to be somebody from the metro area, I guess I’d like to see somebody from the rural area put their hat in the ring.”
Koering is a somewhat conservative Republican with strong anti-abortion and gun rights bona fides, but was a supporter of legalizing medical marijuana for terminally ill patients and is against banning same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment, both generally regarded as progressive stances.
He says he can work on both sides of the aisle. “The state is in a critical condition right now,” he said. “We are in need of a chief executive officer who can work across party lines to get through these troubled times.” See Gay Republican Sen. Koering eyeing governors seat
Minnesota Independent -
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