Advances in Marriage Equality - The Thursday Edition

[elrhiarhodan]

Per the New York Times (too important to go behind a cut tag):

United States: Holder Sees Way to Curb Bans on Gay Marriage

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday injected the Obama administration into the emotional and politicized debate over the future of state same-sex marriage bans, declaring in an interview that state attorneys general are not obligated to defend laws that they believe are discriminatory.

Mr. Holder was careful not to encourage his state counterparts to disavow their own laws, but said that officials who have carefully studied bans on gay marriage could refuse to defend them.

Six state attorneys general — all Democrats — have refused to defend bans on same-sex marriage, prompting criticism from Republicans who say they have a duty to stand behind their state laws, even if they do not agree with them.

Kentucy: Kentucky must legally recognize same sex marriages.

A federal judge on Thursday signed an order directing officials in Kentucky to immediately recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries.

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II issued a final order throwing out part of the state's ban on gay marriages. It makes official his Feb. 12 ruling that Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriages treated "gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them."

Same-sex couples may change their names on official identifications and documents and obtain any other benefits of a married couple in Kentucky. The order doesn't affect a related lawsuit seeking to force the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Texas: Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas’ Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

A federal judge in Texas struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, ruling that the laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman violated the United States Constitution and handing gay-rights advocates a major legal victory in one of the nation’s biggest and most conservative states.

The judge wrote that the amendment to the state Constitution that Texas voters approved in 2005 defining marriage as between a man and a woman — and two similar laws passed in 1997 and 2003 — denied gay couples the right to marry and demeaned their dignity “for no legitimate reason.”

“Without a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in our United States Constitution,” wrote Judge Orlando L. Garcia of United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, in San Antonio.

While significant, Judge Garcia’s ruling will have no immediate effect on gay and lesbian couples wishing to marry in Texas. The judge issued a stay on his decision while the state appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans.

Illinois: Same-Sex Couples Allowed to Wed in Cook County, Illinois

Same-sex couples in Illinois' Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago, can wed immediately and do not have to wait to tie the knot until a new state law legalizing gay marriage takes effect in June, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

Illinois lawmakers approved same-sex marriage late in 2013, effective on June 1, and several couples had sued Cook County Clerk David Orr for the right to marry immediately.

"There is no reason to delay further when no opposition has been presented to this court and committed gay and lesbian couples have already suffered from the denial of their fundamental right to marry," said U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman in Chicago.

Coleman had ruled in December that Cook County same-sex couples could obtain an emergency marriage license ahead of June if one partner had a life-threatening illness, and some same-sex couples have been issued a license on that basis.

On Friday, she said the Illinois ban on same-sex marriage until June violated the couples' rights to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution, but her finding only applied to Cook County, based on the case brought to her.

And of course, Arizona (although not PRECISELY on marriage equality, but equality in general): Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill on Refusal of Service to Gays

Ending a day that cast a glaring national spotlight on Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would have given business owners the right to refuse service to gay men, lesbians and other people on religious grounds.

Her action came amid mounting pressure from Arizona business leaders, who said the bill would be a financial disaster for the state and would harm its reputation. Prominent members of the Republican establishment, including Mitt Romney and Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, also sided with the bill’s opponents, who argued that the measure would have allowed people to use religion as a fig leaf for prejudice.

Comments

[pooh-collector.livejournal.com]

It's been a banner week, and today a US District Court Judge ordered the state of Kentucky to immediately begin to recognize same sex marriages performed out of state.

*pumps fist*

[marieincolour.livejournal.com]

Having grown up in a country that recognises same-sex marriage, had a lesbian female bishop (we have a national religion) in the 80's and parents who basically only had gay friends (meet uncle X and uncle Z), I sometimes forget the lies and the unbelievably judgemental shit that goes on in the world, and I tend to take these rights for granted. -.-

And while things are heading in a right direction at times, I still marvel at what a greedy, self-important, judgemental, prejudiced and cowardly bunch of people we sometimes let make decisions. *snarl* I might have to marry a woman out of pure spite.

...sorry about the word vomit. It just kind of happened.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Michigan: A trial began on Tuesday (http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/02/26/testimony-continues-in-trial-that-could-overturn-mich-gay-marriage-ban/) (February 25) for a lawsuit challenging the state constitution's ban on same-sex marriage. The plaintiffs originally sued to overturn the state's ban on same-sex couples adopting each other's children, but the judge encouraged them to challenge the marriage ban. Michigan's teabagger attorney general is using the "WHAT ABOUT THE CHILLLLLLDREN?" argument that same-sex couples can't be parents, well, okay, they are parents but they can't be good parents, but the plaintiffs have expert witnesses testifying that the scientific evidence show the children of same-sex couples turn out at least as well as the children of "traditional marriage". Wish us luck.

[algeiban.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. I've been having very much a "human beings suck" kind of day, and it's nice to have a reminder that sometimes, some of us get it right.

[damietta.livejournal.com]

There is a case pending in Kentucky with the same federal judge that will be heard in May regarding the commonwealth's ban on ssm. Since Judge Heyburn (a very well respected judge appointed by Bush I) has already ordered this no doubt the rest of it will fall. And, we are working hard to get McConnell out of office (hee).

[love-82.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing all the good news. Lots of progress being made. In another generation or two people are going to look back on bans on same sex marriage and discrimination against gay people they way we look at bans that were on inter-racial marriage and segregation and such.