Finding that prosecuting a man for failing to register as a sex offender on the basis of an old conviction under an unconstitutional sodomy law would be “unthinkable,” U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg granted a writ of habeas corpus to Charlton Green on December 9, directing that the State of Georgia release him from the obligations of probation to which he had been sentence.
Green, then age 20, and three friends, another young guy and … <Read More>
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman issued a decision on December 10 in Edwards v. Orr, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173801, 2013 WL 6490577 (N.D. Ill.), a class action suit brought by Lambda Legal seeking a judicial order allowing “medically critical plaintiffs” in same-sex couples to get marriage licenses in advance of the official June 1, 2014, implementation date for the same-sex marriage amendment signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn on November 20. Because … <Read More>
Responding to a request from a French court for an interpretation of European law, the 5th Chamber of the European Court of Justice ruled today, December 12, that an employee of a French bank who requested leave and a marriage bonus under the employer’s policy on the occasion of his entering into a pact civil (the French equivalent of a civil union) with his same-sex partner in 2007 had suffered direct discrimination on the basis … <Read More>
Finding that a transgender woman who was sent to a residential drug treatment program under a plea agreement had sufficiently alleged that she encountered discrimination there, New York Acting Supreme Court Justice Debra Silber denied a motion to dismiss Sabire Wilson’s housing discrimination claims under state and New York City law against Phoenix House and Sydney Hargrove, the director of Phoenix’s induction unit. Justice Silber’s opinion, dated December 10, was published by the New York … <Read More>
Just days after same-sex couples began getting married in Canberra under a law passed by the Australian Capital Territory’s Assembly, the High Court of Australia, that country’s appellate court of last resort, ruled that the territorial legislation was “inconsistent” with the federal Marriage Act 1961 (as amended in 2004), and thus “of no effect.” The same-sex marriages contracted over the past few days are invalid. However, at the same time, the High Court’s unanimous decision … <Read More>
Today, December 11, a two-judge panel from the Supreme Court of India found “legally unsustainable” the 2009 ruling by the Delhi High Court that had struck down India’s colonial-era sodomy law, Section 377. Justices G.S. Singhvi and Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya issued an opinion that drew immediate protests from progressive elements of society in India, and provoked street demonstrations against the ruling in several cities. The attitude of the justices was most clearly expressed near the … <Read More>
A Colorado Administrative Law Judge ruled on December 6, 2013, that a bakery had violated the state’s public accommodations law when its owner refused to sell a wedding cake to a gay male couple on July 19, 2012.
Colorado does not have same-sex marriage, and only enacted a civil union law open to same-sex couples early in 2013. Back in 2012, however, Coloradans Charlie Craig and David Mullins planned to get married in Massachusetts and … <Read More>
On November 14, Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri issued an executive order directing that the state’s tax authorities accept joint tax filings from married same-sex couples, even though the state’s constitution and laws forbid same-sex marriages. When carefully considered, the Executive Order appears to be a straightforward interpretation of Missouri tax statutes. The state’s tax laws provide that Missouri residents file their tax returns using the same tax status as on their federal returns. By … <Read More>
Finding that the Board of Immigration appeals erred in finding that a gay asylum applicant from Russia had failed to show that he had been subjected to persecution by non-governmental actors whom the Russian government was unable or unwilling to control, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted the petition for review and remanded the case so that the Board of Immigration Appeals can determine whether the government … <Read More>
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled today that a lower court, with the support of the U.K. Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), correctly found that Mr. and Mrs. Bull, operators of a hotel, had violated UK non-discrimination law by refusing to honor a reservation for a room with a double bed made by a gay couple who are registered as civil partners, the UK equivalent status to marriage for same-sex partners now … <Read More>