An article published this morning, January 12, 2012, in the Globe & Mail, Canada's leading daily newspaper, reports that a federal Department of Justice lawyer has argued that a divorce petition filed by a same-sex couple married in Toronto in 2005 who were not then and are not now Canadian residents should be dismissed for two reasons: (1) there is a one-year residency requirement for divorce (an uncontroversial point, which the petitioners were evidently trying to test … <Read More>
Iowa Judge Upholds Marriage Equality in Birth Certificate Dispute
Finding that the Iowa Supreme Court's marriage equality mandate in Varnum v. Brien was intended to extend to all aspects of state law, Judge Eliza J. Ovrom of the Iowa 5th Judicial District Court (Polk County), ruled on January 4, 2012, that the same-sex spouse of a woman who had given birth to a child conceived through donor insemination was entitled to be listed as one of the child's parents on the child's birth certificate, with … <Read More>
The Green Mountain Project’s “Grand Festive Vespers in Venice c. 1640”
In January 2010, a group of musicians organized under the name "Green Mountain Project" gave a free performance of Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of that monumental work. They repeated in January 2011, and this time being clued-in, I attended. The event was held at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the Times Square neighborhood of Manhattan. I thought the performance was nicely exuberant, but … <Read More>
A New Year’s Eve Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera: “The Enchanted Island”
When the season brochure for the Met came out last spring, I zeroed in on "The Enchanted Island" because Anthony Roth Costanzo, a brilliant young countertenor whose work thrills me, was billed as one of the performers. As soon as tickets became available for a "do your own" subscription, this was on my list. Although as a matter of principle I have some objections about what the Met did here, on its own terms I … <Read More>
My Last NY Philharmonic Concert of 2011: Alan Gilbert & Anne Sofie von Otter
I attended my last New York Philharmonic concert of 2011 on Thursday, December 29, which was the second presentation by the orchestra of their last subscription program of the calendar year. Alan Gilbert conducted, with guest artist Anne Sofie von Otter. The program consisted of Josef Haydn's Symphony No. 88 in G, six songs by Franz Schubert orchestrated by various individuals, the complete Mother Goose Ballet by Maurice Ravel, and as a finale, Ravel's "La … <Read More>
“Hugo” and “Blood and Gifts”
Contrasting cultural outings here….
One evening last week I went to see Martin Scorsese's new 3-D film, "Hugo," a sort of fairy-tale about an orphan boy who occupies himself keeping all the clocks running in the Paris Railway Station in the 1920s. The boy gets involved in various adventures with a toy store owner, the owner's niece, a security official at the train station… You get the drift. It is very entertaining most of the … <Read More>
Florida Appeals Court Rules Child Has Two Mothers: Bio Mom and Birth Mom
In a case of first impression for Florida, the 5th District Court of Appeal ruled on December 23, 2011, that a child born through in vitro fertilization using an ovum from its birth mother's same-sex partner, is legally the child of both women. T.M.H. v. D.M.T., 2011 Westlaw 6437247. Reversing a decision by Brevard County Circuit Judge Charles Crawford, the 2-1 appellate ruling concluded that failing to recognize the plaintiff's parental rights would violate … <Read More>
California Court of Appeal Affirms Parental Rights for Non-Adoptive Same-Sex Co-Parent
The California 3rd District Court of Appeal has affirmed a ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Helena Gweon that a woman who had not attempted to adopt her former same-sex partner
NJ Court Awards Custody in Gestational Surrogacy Dispute
Facing legal questions of first impression for the state, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Francis B. Schultz ruled on December 13 that the father of twin girls conceived through gestational surrogacy should be awarded sole custody of the now-5-year-old girls, despite the court having earlier ruled that the surrogacy contract signed by the parties was void as a matter of New Jersey law and that the gestational surrogate, although not genetically related to the twins, … <Read More>
Federal Court Throws Out Lawsuit Against Justice Department in Bush Administration Hiring Scandals
Although the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility concluded in a report entitled "An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring in the Department of Justice Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program" (June 24, 2008) that the Justice Department had improperly excluded from consideration applicants whose past associations suggested that they might not be "politically correct" as that term might be used within the Justice Department during the Bush … <Read More>