Legal observers have been predicting that the Supreme Court will rule this June in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have a right to marry under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and to have such marriages recognized by every state, but such a ruling will not necessarily settle all the issues of parental rights of same-sex couples that continue to divide the courts. Litigation in four jurisdictions demonstrates the continuing problem of … <Read More>
Legal Issues
Supreme Court Argument Leaves Marriage Equality Proponents Cautiously Optimistic for June 2015 Victory
My first take on today’s oral argument in the Supreme Court:
The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14-556, on April 28, considering the questions whether same-sex couples have a right to marry and to have their marriages recognized by states other than those in which they marry. The case consolidated appeals from the plaintiffs in four states – Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky — whose district court … <Read More>
Florida Courts Can Grant Divorces to Married Same-Sex Couples
The Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled on April 24 in Brandon-Thomas v. Brandon-Thomas, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 6051, 2015 WL 1874457, that a same-sex couple that married in Massachusetts but resides in Florida could seek a divorce in a Florida court. The unanimous three-judge panel found that the state had no rational basis for treating such a marriage differently from other out-of-state marriages. The ruling reverses a 2013 decision by Lee County Circuit … <Read More>
California Federal Court Orders Sex-Reassignment Surgery “As Promptly As Possible”
For only the second time, a federal district judge has ordered state prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) to a transgender inmate. On April 2, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction in Norsworthy v. Beard, 2015 WL 1500971 (N.D. Cal.), ordering state officials to provide the procedure for Michelle-Lael Norsworthy “as promptly as possible” in light of her medical condition and the recommendations of expert witnesses.
The … <Read More>
Transgender Student Loses Fight Over Expulsion from UPJ
The federal court for the Western District of Pennsylvania rejected a discrimination lawsuit by a transgender man who was expelled from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in January 2012 for insisting on using men’s restroom and locker room facilities. Just one day before the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the Army had unlawfully discriminated against a transgender woman by denying her the right to use women’s facilities, U.S. District Judge Kim R. … <Read More>
EEOC Rules on Transgender Employee Restroom Rights
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency charged with enforcement of federal bans on sex discrimination in employment, has ruled that a transgender woman employed in a civilian position by the U.S. Department of the Army, is entitled to use restroom facilities consistent with her gender identity, despite the agency’s objection to providing such access before the individual has undergone sex-reassignment surgery. Although the EEOC had previously ruled that refusal to employ somebody because … <Read More>
Federal Court Orders Stay of New Family & Medical Leave Act Regulation
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Wichita Falls, issued an order on March 26 requiring the U.S. Department of Labor to stay the implementation of a new regulation that changes the definition of “spouse” under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act to include same-sex couple, wherever they reside, who were married in a jurisdiction that allows same-sex marriages. State of Texas v. … <Read More>
Missouri Appeals Court Frees Gay Man from Sex Offender Registration Requirement
In 1988 Jerome Keeney, Jr., was arrested in a typical sting operation by a St. Louis County vice cop, and pled guilty in 1989 to the charge of attempted “sexual misconduct.” His crime? Groping an undercover police officer who specifically sat with him in his parked car at a highway rest stop and chatted him up seeking to provoke such a move. The St. Louis County Circuit Court imposed a suspended sentence (no jail time) … <Read More>
Puerto Rico Urges Reversal of Anti-Marriage Equality Ruling
In an unusual turnabout, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, respondent in Lambda Legal’s appeal of the anti-marriage equality ruling in Conde-Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla, 2014 WL 5361987 (D. P.R., Oct. 21, 2014), is urging the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the district court’s ruling that dismissed the challenge to the Commonwealth’s ban on licensing or recognizing same-sex marriages.
Lambda Legal sued on behalf of several same-sex couples seeking either to marry in Puerto Rico … <Read More>
Alabama Probate Judge Caught Between Conflicting Rulings
The Mobile County, Alabama, Probate Court is not issuing marriage licenses to anybody, as Judge Don Davis tries to figure out exactly what he is supposed to be doing. On January 26, U.S. District Judge Callie Granade ruled in a lawsuit brought by a same-sex couple in Mobile County seeking a marriage license that they were entitled to receive one because the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. … <Read More>