Federal Judge Rejects DOMA Challenge in Immigration Context

In a decision released on September 28, 2011, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the Central District of California ruled that binding 9th Circuit precedent requires him to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service's refusal to recognize a same-sex marriage between a U.S. citizen and a citizen of Indonesia.  Judge Wilson relied on a nearly-thirty-year-old ruling that predates positive advances in gay rights in the Supreme Court.

The plaintiffs, Lui … <Read More>


9th Circuit Panel Vacates Log Cabin Republican DADT Decision as Moot

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, ruled on September 29 that the implementation of the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 on September 20, 2011, put an end to the "case or controversy" raised many years ago when Log Cabin Republicans sued the federal government for a judicial declaration that the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy was unconstitutional and for an injunction <Read More>


“The Submission” – A New Play by Jeff Talbott

On Saturday afternoon I attended a preview performance of "The Submission," a new play by Jeff Talbott that opened last night at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. 

 This is a very producible play, with four characters presented on a unit set.  (Anybody who sees it will identify that as a laugh-line early on….) 

The premise is that a gay white man who has been struggling to write a producible play … <Read More>


Faur

Virgin Records have released a CD by Paavo Jarvi and the Orchestre de Paris of music by Gabriel Faur


Moneyball – The Film (Plot Spoilers)

Bennett Miller has made an excellent film out of Michael Lewis's book documenting Billy Beane's revolutionary experiment of trying to construct a championship team on a modest budget compared to the teams fielded by the nation's large cities. 

The story as told in the film: The Oakland Athletics actually had a very good season the year before Beane launched his experiment, but then all their "free agent" stars were spirited away by other clubs who were … <Read More>


The Help – The Movie

I saw this a few weeks ago, actually, and just haven't gotten around to writing anything about it before now — maybe because I wasn't sure what to say.  "The Help" is doing just fine with audiences, earning unexpectedly well for a serious film about a difficult, in some ways nearly unspeakable, period of American history.  Set in the segregationist south of the early 1960s, it holds up to scrutiny the "polite" racism of privileged whites … <Read More>


N.Y. County Surrogate Rejects Another Challenge to Probate of Ranftle Estate

New York County Surrogate Court Judge Kristin Booth Glen ruled on September 14, 2011, that the late H. Kenneth Ranftle was domiciled in New York at the time of his death and rejected a challenge to probate of his will brought by his brother, Ronald Ranftle, who argued that Ken was a Florida domiciliary.  Ranftle's domicile at death was important because his marriage to J. Craig Leiby is recognized under New York law, but would … <Read More>


California Transgender Inmate Loses Bid for Sex-Reassignment Surgery

A transgender California state prison inmate serving a 50-years-to-life sentence for murder has lost her appeal of a ruling denying her request for sex reassignment surgery and transfer to a women's prison.  The California 1st District Court of Appeal denied Lyralisa Stevens' appeal in a brief order on September 21, 2011, that gave no reasons for the decision, apart from commenting that she was receiving adequate security at the all-male California Medical Facility in Vacaville, where … <Read More>


Alaska Judge Says Gay Couples Suffer Constitutional Injury on Senior Real Property Tax Exemption

On September 19, 2011, Anchorage District Superior Court Judge Frank A. Pfiffner released a ruling that the state of Alaska and municipality of Anchorage were violating the equal protection requirements of the Alaska Constitution by maintaining a senior real property tax exemption program that discriminates against same-sex couples.  The decision in Schmidt v. State of Alaska, Case No. 3AN-10-9519 CI (3rd Judicial Dist.), was heavily based on the Alaska Supreme Court's 2005 decision in American Civil <Read More>


Unequal Treatment for Lesbian Mom in Arkansas

The Court of Appeals of Arkansas has affirmed a decision by Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Vann Smith to award primary custody of a teenage boy and girl to their lesbian mother over the objections of their heterosexual dad, who gets visitation rights, but in a burst of unequal "equality," the court also upheld Judge Smith's requirement that both parents are "ordered to refrain from having any romantic partner to whom they were not married … <Read More>