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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Seattle Judge: Gay city workers names don’t have to be released, for now

A King County judge has temporarily barred the release of the names of Seattle city employees involved in a city-sponsored group for gay and lesbian workers to an anti-gay rights activist.

Superior Court Judge John Erlick ordered that some requested documents be released Monday, with the names of meeting attendees redacted. The identities of city employees who received a “public benefit” through the group — likely wages on other compensation — may be released following a hearing later this year.

At issue Thursday was a request made by Seattle City Light employee and self-described “civil rights leader” Philip Irvin, who had filed a public-disclosure request for the membership list and meeting minutes for the department’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning and Friends Club. Irvin, who says he wants to start a similar group for formerly gay employees, asserts that the club has discriminated against him for his opposition to gay rights.

In issuing his order, Erlick acknowledged that releasing the employees’ identities could discourage others from joining the LGBTQF group. But, he said there remains a clear public interest in knowing who is receiving state benefits, and payment for meeting attendance or other compensation to group members, Erlick said, “is a public benfit.”

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Seattle Post Intelligencer

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Students protest anti-gay activists

NEW BRITAIN — Students from New Britain High School started their day earlier than usual Wednesday as they engaged in an unplanned class on the constitution, equal rights and free speech.

About 40 students began gathering about a block south of Mill Street and South Main Street at 6:50 a.m. as a small contingent of out-of-town anti-gay protesters arrived.

Joseph Ellzey, a 16-year-old sophomore, said he was shocked to see the group so near the school.

“What they’re doing is an insult and disgusting,” he said, as schoolmates cheered him on. “People have the right to say things, but this is just hate.”

The anti-gay group, members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., is well-known for its virulent attacks on homosexuals, the U.S. Supreme Court and, with the recent codification in the Legislature on a gay marriage law, the state of Connecticut.
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