While waiting for the two dozen active judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to decide whether to grant en banc review in Perry v. Brown, 671 F.3d 1052 (February 7, 2012), a decision that affirmed on the merits the district court's ruling that California Proposition 8 violates the 14th Amendment by rescinding a previously recognized state constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry without any rational basis, consider the 9th Circuit's … <Read More>

When you take a look at every new court decision that cites Lawrence v. Texas, which I do in the course of finding cases to discuss on this blog, in my newsletter, Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, and in my role as contributing writer for Gay City News, you sometimes see decisions that might be somewhat outside the boundaries of LGBT law, but are nonetheless quite interesting.  My current example, State of Kansas v. … <Read More>

Last night, Sunday, April 1, I went to the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music to hear a concert by Sybarite5, a string quintet, performing under the auspices of Five Boroughs Music Festival.  They had performed the same concert on Saturday night in Manhattan, but I was at the NY Philharmonic and so, as a dedicated supporter of 5BMF, made the Sunday trek under the river and through the woods….

Sybarite5 consists of a standard string quartet (2 … <Read More>

U.S. District Judge Martin L. C. Feldman granted summary judgment to plaintiffs on March 29, 2012, in Doe v. Jindal, Civil Action No. 11-388 (E.D.La.), a case challenging the state's differential imposition of sex offender registration requirements in cases involving solicitation of sex for compensation.  Judge Feldman found that there was no rational basis for the state to require registration and all its impositions when people were convicted of Crime Against Nature by Solicitation but not … <Read More>

Justice Paul G. Feinman of New York County Supreme Court ruled on March 16 in Birney v. NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 34 Misc.3d 1243(A), 2012 WL 975082, 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 50520(U) (Unreported Disposition), that the City Health Department must reconsider its refusal to issue a new birth certificate to Louis Leonard Birney, a transgender man, showing his current male gender identity.  The Department had rejected as inadequate proof the certified … <Read More>

Ruling in the case of an HIV+ licensed pilot whose medical information was improperly shared by the Social Security Administration (SSA) with the Department of Transportation (DOT), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled March 28 by a vote of 5-3 that the federal Privacy Act, codified at 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552a, waives federal sovereign immunity and exposes the government to damage claims only for pecuniary losses caused to the plaintiff by a statutory violation. 

Reversing a contrary … <Read More>

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a proposed new rule in the Federal Register, to amend 19 CFR Part 148, "regulations regarding U.S. returning residents who are eligible to file a single customs declaration for members of a family traveling together upon arrival in the United States."  What DHS proposed to do is to "expand the definition of the term 'members of a family residing in one household' to allow more U.S. returning … <Read More>

On March 26, the Justice Department filed a "Motion to Consolidate and Expedite Appeals" and a "Petition for Initial Hearing En Banc" in Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management & Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives, Appeals No. 12-15388 and 12-15409 now pending before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  This is the case in which U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White ruled on February 22, 2012 WL 569685 (N.D.Cal.), that … <Read More>

The U.S. Courts of Appeals have issued two new rulings in cases where gay men are battling to stay in the United States rather than to be deported to their countries of origin.  In one, involving a gay man from Trinidad & Tobago, the 3rd Circuit granted the government's motion to dismiss the appeal on jurisdictional grounds.  In the other, involving a gay man from Kenya, the 8th Circuit remanded the case to the Board … <Read More>

Under the common law of slander, a plaintiff ordinarily has to prove that a defendant's statement about the plaintiff caused him monetary loss in order to maintain a legal claim of defamation, but common law courts considered some statements to be so inherently damaging that harm to reputation with financial consequences would be presumed without proof.  Such an action is called slander per se. Traditionally, stating or implying that somebody was homosexual was on the slander per se list.  Changes … <Read More>