Lambda Legal files suit to prevent Ariz. from stripping domestic partner benefits
From Lambda Legal:
(Tuscon, Ariz.) Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tucson to block a move to strip domestic partner benefits from gay and lesbian state employees. Arizona lawmakers included a provision stripping domestic partner health benefits from state employees as part of a last-minute …
Tags: Ariz, Domestic Partner Benefits, Federal Lawsuit, Gay And Lesbian, Gay Lesbian, Health Benefits, Lambda Legal, Last Minute, Lawmakers, Provision, State Employees, Stripping, TusconCheesecake Factory to pay $345K in harassment case
(Phoenix) National restaurant chain The Cheesecake Factory Inc. has agreed to pay $345,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging it let some male employees sexually harass other male workers in suburban Phoenix.
The settlement announced Tuesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission includes a requirement that the company train its …
Tags: Cheesecake Factory Inc, Employment Opportunity Commission, Equal Employment Opportunity, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Federal Lawsuit, Harassment Case, National Restaurant Chain, Suburban Phoenix, TrainSF City Attorney ready to lend a hand in federal gay marriage case
Dennis Herrera, San Francisco’s City Attorney petitioned a U.S. District Court Judge Thursday to allow San Francisco to intervene as a party plaintiff in a constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, the voter-approved amendment that bans gay marriage in California. The federal lawsuit was filed in May on behalf of two California couples. San Francisco lead the legal battle that resulted in the May 2008 ruling in favor of gay marriage that was later overruled by Prop 8. “We are long overdue to put anti-gay discrimination on trial based on the facts,” said Herrera in a statement. “The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office has the experience and expertise to aggressively assist in doing precisely that.”See City Attorney ready to lend a hand in federal gay marriage case The San Francisco Examiner
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Gay marriage case will go to Supreme Court: attorney
The attorney representing two same-sex couples who were denied a right to wed in California said on Thursday he expected the case to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to hear a case on the gay marriage issue.
“When it does get to the United States Supreme Court, we expect to win,” Theodore Olson, who was solicitor general under former President George W. Bush, told reporters after the first hearing on federal lawsuit that was filed in May.
See
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Lawyers: Gay couples’ rights justify injunction San Jose Mercury New
SAN FRANCISCO—Two high-profile lawyers are arguing that any bureaucratic inconvenience caused by suspending California’s same-sex marriage ban is outweighed by the ongoing discrimination being suffered by gay and lesbian couples.
Theodore Olson and David Boies, who represented opposing sides in the 2000 presidential election challenge, Bush v. Gore, filed papers Thursday buttressing their argument that Proposition 8 should be lifted while a federal lawsuit challenging the voter-approved measure proceeds in court.
See Lawyers: Gay couples’ rights justify injunction
San Jose Mercury New
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SF Mayor: Obama Made “Big Mistake” Defending Anti-Gay Marriage Act
With the Obama administration facing growing discontent among gay supporters, the mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco joined in voicing concern today about a new U.S. Justice Department brief supporting the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
“I think it’s a big mistake,” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said shortly before he and his Los Angeles counterpart, Antonio Villaraigosa, kicked off the annual L.A. Pride parade in West Hollywood.
The 1996 law bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and enables states to refuse to recognize such marriages from other states. The Justice Department enraged leaders of gay rights groups Thursday by filing a lengthy defense of the law in a federal lawsuit in which its constitutional validity is challenged.
Newsom and Villaraigosa, potential rivals in next year’s Democratic primary for governor, were both careful to avoid direct criticism of President Obama, who pledged during his campaign for the White House to repeal the marriage law. See SF Mayor: Obama Made “Big Mistake” Defending Anti-Gay Marriage Act
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CA AG Brown again says Prop. 8 should be struck down
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown once again refused to defend Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage Friday, telling a federal judge that it violated the U.S. Constitution and should be struck down.
Brown made his arguments in response to a federal lawsuit against the state by two gay couples who contend the initiative violates federal due process and equal protection guarantees.
Brown’s willingness to fight a state law that has been upheld by the state’s highest court contrasted sharply with President Obama’s decision this week to oppose a federal challenge to the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act brought in Orange County.
In that case, a married gay couple, Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, has challenged the constitutionality of both Proposition 8 and the 1996 federal law that prohibits extension of federal benefits to same-sex couples.
See AG Brown again says Prop. 8 should be struck down
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Self-proclaimed ‘Christian’ group asks to fight suit on gay marriage
A self-anointed ‘Christian’ group that raised - and spent - pent more than $37 million in leading the campaign to pass Proposition 8 is now seeking to formally fight a federal lawsuit aimed at overturning California’s gay marriage ban.
The Alliance Defense Fund filed court papers Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to allow it to defend the constitutionality of Proposition 8. Did you ever wonder how mnuch money they raised for ‘fighting gay marriage’ went to pay their own saleries?
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Gay rights advocates rip suit to undo Prop. 8
Gay rights advocates Wednesday blasted two veteran attorneys for filing a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban, saying the move is premature and could be disastrous for the marriage movement.
While they knew of the objections, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies - who opposed each other during the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election case - filed the suit Friday in San Francisco on behalf of two same-sex couples who wanted to be married but were denied because of Prop. 8.
The suit claims the voter-approved measure, which the California Supreme Court affirmed Tuesday, denies same-sex couples the basic liberties and equal protection under the law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. It asks for a preliminary injunction against Prop. 8 until the case is decided.
Olson said he filed the case not only on behalf of his clients, who include Berkeley residents Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, but on behalf of gay couples elsewhere who want to get married but can’t.
“We can’t tell them to wait, what, five years” for their state to approve same-sex marriage, he said, but acknowledged that it could take two years for his case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
While Olson shares the same end goal as same-sex marriage advocates, he doesn’t share their political strategy - to win states individually, with ballot initiatives or laws approved by state legislatures. Several same-sex marriage advocates intend to put the issue to voters in November 2010.
Olson thinks both strategies can work simultaneously. But many gay legal advocates are urging same-sex couples to avoid filing federal lawsuits because federal courts have not been as friendly to gay rights issues See * Gay rights advocates rip suit to undo Prop. 8 San Francisco Chronicle Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Prop 8 ruling moves to federal court
(San Francisco, California) Hours after California’s top court upheld Proposition 8, the voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, a federal lawsuit was filed arguing that Prop 8 violates the U.S. constitutional guarantee of equal protection and due process.
The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction against California’s Proposition 8 until the case is resolved.
The …
Tags: California Court, Constitutional Guarantee, Due Process, Federal Lawsuit, Injunction Against, marriage, Preliminary Injunction, same sex marriage, San Francisco California
