7th Circuit Panel Roughs Up State Attorneys in Marriage Equality Arguments

A panel of three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, gave a very rough time to attorneys from the states of Indiana and Wisconsin on August 26 during oral arguments about marriage equality appeals from those states.  Three district court rulings from Indiana and one from Wisconsin issued earlier in 2014 had found unconstitutional those states’ refusal to allow same-sex couples to marry or to recognize their … <Read More>


Florida Federal Court Rules for Marriage Equality; 10th Circuit Stays Colorado Ruling; Virginia Clerk Petitions for Certiorari

There were several developments on the marriage equality front late last week.  On August 21, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle, of the Northern District of Florida, granted a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs in Brenner v. Scott, 2014 WL 4113100, a consolidation of two marriage equality cases, but stayed his ruling pending the state’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.  On the same day, two judges of the U.S. … <Read More>


Supreme Court Stays Virginia Marriage Ruling

The Supreme Court issued an unsigned order today staying the 4th Circuit’s mandate in Bostic v. Schaefer, the Virginia marriage equality case.  The 4th Circuit panel had rejected Prince William County Clerk Michele McQuigg’s motion to stay pending Supreme Court review, and McQuigg promptly renewed her request for a stay by filing the motion with Chief Justice John Roberts.  Roberts requested input from the other parties, and then referred the matter to the full Court, … <Read More>


Indiana Judge “Calls Out” Governor in Marriage Recognition Ruling

Chief U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young was clearly perturbed by the actions of Indiana Governor Mike Pence in response to Young’s June 25 ruling requiring the state to allow same-sex couples to marry, Baskin v. Bogan.

There were several marriage equality cases pending in Indiana, all assigned to Judge Young, and Governor Pence had moved to be dismissed as an individual defendant in those cases, claiming that he was not appropriately sued because he … <Read More>


New York Human Rights Agency Rules Against Discriminatory Wedding Venue

The New York State Division of Human Rights ruled on August 8 in McCarthy v. Liberty Ridge Farm, Case Nos. 10157952 & 10157963, that a rural wedding venue violated the state’s Human Rights Law by its policy against same-sex weddings.  Commissioner  Helen Diane Foster formally adopted a recommended decision by Administrative Law Judge Migdalia Pares, awarding the complainants $1,500 each in compensatory damages and fining Liberty Ridge Farm $10,000 for its violation of the law.… <Read More>


Arizona & California Courts Recognize Marriages between Transgender Men and Women

Two recent court decisions show how far we have come in getting the judicial system to understand and respect gender transition.  In Miller v. Angel, No. GD053180 (Cal. Superior Ct., Los Angeles County, August 6, 2014), and Beatie v. Beatie, No. 1 CA-CV 13-0209 (Arizona Court of Appeals, August 13, 2014), the courts found that they do have jurisdiction to dissolve out-of-state marriages between a transgender man and a woman, which would first require recognizing … <Read More>


4th Circuit Denies Motion to Stay Mandate in Marriage Ruling Beyond August 20

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that decided the case of Bostic v. Schaeffer, striking as unconstitutional Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage, denied a motion by one of the defendants, Prince William County Clerk Michele McQuigg, to stay its mandate beyond the short time that it had authorized in its decision.  That effectively places the question whether same-sex couples can begin marrying in Virginia soon into the hands … <Read More>


The String is Broken – Tennessee Judge Rules Against Marriage Recognition

After a string of about three dozen affirmative marriage equality rulings by federal and state judges, including 2-1 rulings by two federal circuit courts of appeals, a Tennessee judge, Roane County Circuit Court Judge Russell E. Simmons, Jr., has departed from the growing consensus and ruled on August 5 that the court is bound to reject a federal constitutional claim for marriage recognition because of Baker v. Nelson and the public policy exception to the … <Read More>


Nevada Federal Judge Rejects Challenge to NDOC’s No-Domestic-Partners Rule

Nevada has a domestic partnership statute, NRS 122A.100, which allows cohabiting same-sex and different-sex couples to register as domestic partners.  After the domestic partnership statute was enacted, the Nevada Department of Corrections adopted an Administrative Regulation, 815.20, which provides that incarcerated inmates are not allowed to enter into domestic partnerships, but if somebody is incarcerated who is already in a domestic partnership, they will be treated the same as somebody who is married for purposes … <Read More>


Virginia’s Cert Petition in the Marriage Equality Case

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring filed a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court on August 8 on behalf of Virginia State Registrar Janet M. Rainey, a named defendant in Bostic v. Rainey, one of the two challenges to Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on July 28.  (The other, Harris v. Rainey, was joined for decision at the requestof the plaintiffs, after the district court … <Read More>