A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of Indiana, pointing out that it was bound by prior state supreme court precedent, rejected a claim by a lesbian co-parent that the trial court erred in not awarding her joint custody of the child she was raising with her former partner. However, the court said that she should be allowed to seek visitation rights, finding that there was no binding precedent against this and it would … <Read More>
Legal Issues
Ohio Marriage Challenge Continues Despite Death of Plaintiff
A federal judge in Cincinnati has ruled that a lawsuit seeking to compel the state of Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages of its residents that were performed in other jurisdictions will live on, despite the death of a plaintiff that might otherwise moot the case, and that a gay Cincinnati funeral director may carry on the challenge as a “third-party plaintiff” representing the interests of his future clients. The judge also suggested that his ruling … <Read More>
Florida Courts Disagree About Whether Sexual Intercourse Can Occur Without a Vagina
Is gay sex “sexual intercourse”? I’m trying to be polite here, so I’ll speak clinically. When a man takes another man’s penis in his mouth, or inserts his penis into another man’s anus, are they having “sexual intercourse”? In Florida — and many other states — this remains a serious question of criminal law, even after Lawrence v. Texas decriminalized consensual gay sex, because Florida has a statute making it a crime for somebody who … <Read More>
The Marriage Equality Struggle: A Selective Chonology
Tomorrow I am leading a discussion at the NYLS Justice Action Center Colloquium on marriage equality and the law. I prepared the following selective chronology as a handout for the participants, and thought I would share it on-line.
MARRIAGE EQUALITY CHRONOLOGY
[Note: This chronology is selective]
Before 1993: All attempts to litigate for same-sex marriage ended in defeat, including summary affirmance by U.S. Supreme Court holding that the issue of same-sex marriage does … <Read More>
Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Solicitation of Sodomy Statute, But Reverses Police Officer’s Conviction
The Georgia Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a constitutional challenge to the state’s law making it a misdemeanor to solicit somebody to engage in anal or oral sex, but at the same time reversed a police officer’s conviction for soliciting a 17-year-old high school student, finding that the statute, narrowly construed to avoid constitutional problems, had not been violated. The case is Watson v. State, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 860 (Oct. 21, 2013).
Georgia’s sodomy statute … <Read More>
New Jersey Makes it 14: Marriage Equality Comes to the Garden State
When the New Jersey Supreme Court announced on Friday, October 18, 2013, that it was denying the state government’s motion to stay the marriage equality ruling that Mercer County Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson issued on September 27, it effectively made New Jersey the 14th state (and 15th U.S. jurisdiction, counting the District of Columbia) to embrace marriage equality for its residents and visitors. Governor Chris Christie, a lawyer and former U.S. Attorney, can read … <Read More>
New Jersey Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Stay in Marriage Ruling; Same-Sex Couples Can Marry on October 21
Refusing the Christie Administration’s request to stay Judge Mary Jacobson’s September 27 ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in New Jersey, the state’s supreme court unanimously ruled on October 18 that Jacobson’s order will go into effect on October 21. Although the court will hear oral arguments in January on the merits of the case, the opinion by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner strongly signals that the state will most likely lose … <Read More>
Oregon to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages from Other Jurisdictions
Relying on an opinion letter from Oregon Deputy Attorney General Mary H. Williams (dated October 16), which concluded that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Windsor and the 9th Circuit’s vacated decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry it would violate the 14th Amendment for Oregon to decline to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions, the state’s Chief Operating Officer and Director of the Department of Administrative Services, Michael Jordan, sent a memorandum … <Read More>
Gay Man Arrested in Spurious Prostitution Bust Entitled to Trial Against New York City for Constitutional Torts
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin has ruled that Robert Pinter, a gay man who claims to have been wrongly arrested on October 10, 2008, and wrongly prosecuted in a scheme by New York City officials to go after adult businesses by accumulating lots of prostitution arrests, is entitled to his day in court against the City. Denying a motion for summary judgment on most of Pinter’s federal claims in Pinter v. City of New York, … <Read More>
Federal Judge Schedules February 25 Trial on Constitutionality of Michigan Marriage Amendment
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman heard arguments on October 16 from the state of Michigan and lawyers for a lesbian couple who want to jointly adopt each other’s children, before announcing that he was denying each side’s motion for summary judgment and scheduling a February 25 trial on the constitutionality of the Michigan Marriage Amendment. The Amendment’s constitutionality is an issue in the case because Michigan’s adoption statute only allows couples who are married to … <Read More>