In a triumph for science and common sense, the Iowa Supreme Court has voted in Rhoades v. State, No. 12-0180, to reinterpret that state’s HIV exposure statute to bring it into line with the current scientific evidence about HIV transmission, vacating the conviction of Nick Rhoades, who had originally been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison because he hadn’t disclosed his HIV status to a partner before engaging in sex. The June 13 … <Read More>
Legal Issues
Cautionary Tale: Same-Sex Couples That Own Property Need to Take Steps to Protect Each Other
The Tax Court of New Jersey issued a ruling on June 5 in Estate of Frappolli v. Director, Division of Taxation, 2014 Westlaw 2567138, with a strong cautionary note for same-sex couples who jointly own their homes. Formalize your status if you can!
Marie Frappolli and Dorothea Angelou became partners as students and considered themselves partners for many decades until Frappolli died in 2009. Frappolli bought a house in Avalon, NJ, in her own name … <Read More>
U.S. Veterans’ Domestic Partners and Civil Union Partners Eligible for Burial Benefits
In new rules published in the Federal Register on June 6, the Department of Veterans Affairs says that it will treat surviving domestic partners and civil union partners of veterans the same as surviving spouses. The rules uses the terminology “survivor of a legal union” and requires that the union have been documented under state law, so presumably it applies only to people in state-registered domestic partnerships and civil unions. This would, apparently, not extend … <Read More>
Wisconsin Becomes 20th Marriage Equality State – At Least for Now
On June 6 Senior U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb issued her decision in Wolf v. Walker, granting summary judgment to plaintiffs challenging Wisconsin’s constitutional and statutory ban on same-sex marriages in a suit filed in February by the American Civil Liberties Union. Because some of the eight plaintiff couples were already married elsewhere, her decision covered both the right to marry and the right to recognition of existing marriages. County clerks in Milwaukee and … <Read More>
National Organization for Marriage (NOM) Asks Supreme Court to Block Oregon Marriages
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an organization formed for the purpose of opposing same-sex marriages, filed an Application with Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Jr., asking him to put a stop to same-sex marriages in Oregon while NOM attempts to appeal District Judge Michael McShane’s ruling in Geiger v. Kitzhaber to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Application was accepted for filing by the Court on May 28. On the 29th, Justice … <Read More>
New York Trial Judge: Lesbian Spouse of Bio Mom is a Mother of Their Child Conceived Through Donor Insemination
This one would seem to be a no-brainer, but surprisingly the issue is not entirely clear even as we near the third anniversary of New York State’s Marriage Equality Law, which says that same-sex marriages and different-sex marriages are supposed to be treated equally for all purposes under New York Law. What happens if two women marry, decide to have a child through donor insemination, and then have a parting of the ways shortly after … <Read More>
Federal Court Says Utah Must Recognize Same-Sex Marriages That Were Celebrated Before the Supreme Court Stay
U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball ruled on May 19 that the state of Utah must recognize the same-sex marriages that were performed in the state from December 20 to January 6. Another federal district judge, Robert Shelby, ruled on December 20 in Kitchen v. Herbert that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Judge Shelby, and subsequently the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, refused to stay that decision pending appeal and more than 1300 … <Read More>
Federal Court Enjoins Oregon from Banning or Refusing to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages
Finding that the state has no rational basis for refusing to allow same-sex couples to marry or for refusing to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane issued a permanent injunction on May 19 barring the operation of the state’s marriage amendment and its statutory ban on same-sex marriage, and decreed that his order “be effective immediately.” Shortly after the decision was announced, same-sex couples began getting married in Oregon, … <Read More>
Federal Magistrate Judge Declares Idaho’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Unconstitutional
They just keep on coming… Hard on the heels of last week’s ruling by a state court judge in Arkansas that the state’s ban on same-sex marriages violates both the state and federal constitutions, a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Boise has ruled in Latta v. Otter that Idaho’s ban violates the 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Wagahoff Dale released her decision late on May 13, issuing an … <Read More>
4th Circuit Panel Holds Oral Argument in Virginia Marriage Cases
A panel of three judges of the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit conducted oral arguments on May 13 in Bostic v. Schaefer, an appeal by two county clerks of a district court decision that held Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The 4th Circuit had previously granted intervenor status on the appeal to the plaintiffs in another pending marriage case, Harris v. Rainey, so both pending federal court challenges to the … <Read More>