Same-Sex Marriage Update

[MsTinkerbelly]

New Jersey judge hears marriage equality arguments

Emma Margolin
12:54 PM on 08/15/2013

Six couples in are in a New Jersey courtroom Thursday, challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. New Jersey state Sen. Ray Lesniak was one of two dozen sponsors of a marriage equality bill, which passed the legislature, but was vetoed by the Gov. Chris Christie.



Six gay couples and their children headed back to a New Jersey courtroom Thursday, hoping that June’s landmark marriage equality rulings would reinvigorate their fight for the state to recognize same-sex marriage.

New Jersey is one of four states that allow civil unions, which entitle gay couples to spousal rights, but stops short of calling those unions “marriage.” The New Jersey state Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that same-sex couples could not be denied the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, so the state legislature passed a law allowing civil unions in response. In 2012, the New Jersey Assembly passed a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage throughout the Garden State, but Republican Gov. Chris Christie swiftly vetoed it.

The couples filed suit in 2011, claiming that New Jersey’s marriage laws violated the 2006 state Supreme Court ruling that set a standard of equality for same-sex couples. Now, they argue, New Jersey is even more in the wrong.

Arguments on Thursday focused on the implications of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA,) which defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman for federal purposes. The DOMA ruling cleared the way for same-sex couples who were legally married to receive the same federal benefits given to heterosexual spouses. At issue is whether same-sex couples in civil unions should also receive federal benefits based on the ruling.

Marriage equality advocates argue that the DOMA decision does not apply to civil unions, meaning that those who receive state-level spousal benefits are not entitled to federal-level benefits. By that logic, New Jersey is now in violation of the 2006 state Supreme Court decision requiring that gay couples receive the same benefits as straight ones. The state would have to allow all couples to marry, regardless of sexual orientation, in order to comply with both U.S. and state Supreme Court decisions, they argue.

Christie’s administration disagrees, claiming that the full impact of the DOMA ruling is not yet clear, reports the New York Times. A lawyer for the state said Thursday that it was the federal government’s fault, not the state’s, if couples in civil unions were denied certain federal benefits, reports the Associated Press.

After hearing both arguments Thursday, the judge said she would not issue a ruling before September.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia currently allow same-sex couples to marry. New Jersey is one of two in the Northeast that does not.

[tndoc]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

New Jersey judge hears marriage equality arguments

Emma Margolin
12:54 PM on 08/15/2013


Christie’s administration disagrees, claiming that the full impact of the DOMA ruling is not yet clear, reports the New York Times. A lawyer for the state said Thursday that it was the federal government’s fault, not the state’s, if couples in civil unions were denied certain federal benefits, reports the Associated Press.

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One big reason he may never become president. i truly hope they rule in favor.

[blackboot]

Star Advertiser: Special session is expected

A law that could assuage appeals courts is the goal, the governor tells Democrats

By Derrick DePledge

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 19, 2013

Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Sunday it is "very likely" there will be a special legislative session on gay marriage.

The governor, speaking to a Demo­cratic Party of Hawaii gathering at Ward Warehouse, appealed for patience while his administration drafts a gay-marriage bill that can withstand a potential legal challenge from opponents.

"We're not necessarily going to agree on every aspect of how to move forward where justice and freedom and opportunity are concerned," the governor said. "But I think we can put together something that can achieve a solid majority, that will give us the opportunity to establish marriage equity in the state of Hawaii commensurate with the recent Supreme Court decisions, and will satisfy and resolve the issues that are presently before the appeals court on the mainland."

Asked by the Star-Advertiser afterward whether there will be a special session, Abercrombie said, "I think it's very likely."

Despite the governor's confidence, however, he cautioned that he is more concerned about drafting a legally sound bill than the timing of when a bill is passed into state law.

Blake Oshiro, the governor's deputy chief of staff, said he is working with the state attorney general's office on a draft and has been in discussions with state lawmakers. Oshiro said the administration wanted to avoid a repeat of the flawed civil unions law that was approved in 2011 and later had to be corrected.

Abercrombie and state House and Senate leaders have been circumspect about a special session on gay marriage since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that legally married gay couples are entitled to federal benefits. The rulings prompted gay rights activists, along with the state's congressional delegation and a growing number of the more liberal faith-based groups, to urge the state to act quickly.

Hawaii allows both gay and heterosexual couples to enter into civil unions and receive the same rights and benefits as marriage under state law, but federal law does not recognize civil unions. Gay couples have challenged the state's marriage law in federal court as unconstitutional, and the case is on appeal.

House and Senate leaders have said they do not have the two-thirds' support required under the state Constitution to call themselves back into special session, leaving the decision up to Abercrombie. The Senate has the votes for gay marriage, Senate leaders have said, but the vote count is much closer in the House.

Abercrombie has been waiting for a clear expression from the House that there are sufficient votes for a gay-marriage bill. House sources have said privately that they believe they have a majority but want a cushion for a special session.

"The House votes are really close right now," said House Majority Leader Scott Saiki (D, Downtown-Kaka­ako-McCully). "We are looking forward to meeting with the governor to discuss the language and mechanics of a bill."

Democrats hold overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, and Abercrombie holds Washington Place, so activists in the party expect the Legislature and the governor to enact gay marriage either in special session or soon after the next session of the Legislature opens in January.

"Marriage is such a huge, volatile, emotional issue that it should be handled separately so that when we go into the regular session, we can focus on the more regular business," said Jo-Ann Adams, an attorney and gay rights activist. "This needs to be done. It creates a nice space between getting it done in a focused way and giving them time to then reorient and refocus on the rest of the government business. It gives some space for it to die down so people don't worry about any election repercussions, although we don't expect any."

[MsTinkerbelly]

A New Zealand First: Equality at Cruising Altitude

One couple celebrates in the skies as New Zealand adds itself on Monday to the list of countries with marriage equality.

BY Michelle Garcia.

August 19 2013 2:28 AM ET


NEW ZEALAND — Lynley Bendall and Ally Wanikau of New Zealand seem to prefer intimate moments. Besides, the quiet couple of 13 years are raising three sprightly children, leaving little time or energy to plan for the pomp and circumstance of a large wedding. But their modesty and humanitarian spirit was what won them a very public wedding ceremony on an Air New Zealand flight from Queenstown to Auckland. Wanikau and Bendall were among the first same-sex couples to legally marry in New Zealand starting Monday, and they were definitely the first to be wed in the Kiwi skies.

Once the 9 a.m. flight, filled with family and friends, reached cruising altitude, Bendall and Wanikau proudly walked from the back of the plane to the front, where local legend Kim Jewel Elliot performed a ceremony. Elliot had presided over the couple's previous civil union and commitment ceremonies. During the ceremony, Elliot, who was dressed in traditional Maori ceremonial garments, acknowledged the millions of gay people around the world still fighting for marriage equality and LGBT rights.

"We send our support and strength to those who continue to advocate in all nations for the right for all of us to marry," she said, adding, "Now all deep loves can be freely and openly celebrated. From this day forward, all children in New Zealand can grow up knowing they can marry whomever they love."

Bendall and Wanikau, as well as their children, exchanged traditional Maori pendants made of jade stone instead of wedding bands.

Modern Family actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband, Justin Mikita, also newlyweds, were on board to toast the couple as they reached this milestone.

"A successful marriage requires you to fall in love many, many times — with the same person," Ferguson joked. "It was beautiful to watch you fall in love with each other again today."

To cap the ceremony, a choir on the plane sang the New Zealand's unofficial national anthem, "Pokarekare Ana," a traditional Maori song about two lovers who cannot be together. Members of New Zealand's Parliament shocked the world when they sang the song after voting to establish a marriage equality law in April.

Upon landing, the couple celebrated their special day in an airplane hangar at the Auckland airport with more champagne, a rainbow cake, and a performance by local singing group, Anika Boh & Hollie.

Air New Zealand, which coordinated the festivities, will also send the couple on a six-day honeymoon to Palm Springs, Calif. Lorraine Murphy, the airline's chief people officer, said it was a natural fit for the "progressive, daring," national carrier to ring in the new marriage equality law. Now New Zealand's neighbors to the east look to the small country as the arbiter for what is to come.

"I already know there are couples from Australia coming to New Zealand to marry," she said

[MsTinkerbelly]

WHERE IT ALL STARTED

Hawaii May Pass Marriage Equality Bill This Fall


Twenty years ago, Hawaii was the place where marriage equality first emerged as a real possibility. Now it looks like the state may finally complete its wedding march. Democrats in the state legislature are meeting this week to determine if they have the votes to pass a marriage equality bill. Assuming that they do — and they represent the overwhelming majority in both houses — Gov. Neil Abercrombie will call a special session of the legislature this fall to pass the measure. Abercrombie told party members that the special session was “very likely” to happen.

“I think we can put together something that can achieve a solid majority, that will give us the opportunity to establish marriage equity in the state of Hawaii commensurate with the recent Supreme Court decisions, and will satisfy and resolve the issues that are presently before the appeals court on the mainland,” Abercrombie said.

In the meantime, proponents of marriage equality are building the support they need for success. The state’s two Senators and two Representatives issued a letter calling for marriage equality, and a group of two dozen religious leaders has also announced their backing for a marriage bill. Hawaii is one of four states that marriage supporters have targeted for passage of marriage equality laws by 2014.

It’s been a long journey for marriage equality in the Aloha State. In 1991, three couples sued Hawaii, claiming that their rights under the state constitution had been violated. A plurality of the state Supreme Court ultimately agreed that the state couldn’t withhold marriage licenses from them. The religious right ginned up its machinery, and a constitutional amendment was passed in 1998, making the case moot. At the beginning of 2012, the state formally recognized civil unions, in a bit of belated catch up. Passage of a marriage equality measure would complete the circle for the state and make it the fourteenth to legalize same-sex marriages


Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/hawaii-may-pa...#ixzz2cdBBqMek

[MsTinkerbelly]

TIMING THE KNOT

As Dying Lesbian Petitions To Wed Partner, NM County Clerk Begins Issuing Gay Marriage Licenses

Shortly after a terminally-ill woman from Pojoaque, New Mexico sought an emergency court order allowing her to legally marry her partner of 21 years in hopes that their three children would be protected, a clerk from Dona Ana County began issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

Jen Roper has a life-threatening form of brain cancer that has caused her health to severely deteriorate in the past few months. Together with the woman she considers her wife, Angelique Neuman, they have raised three kids, the eldest of whom is currently in basic training in the U.S. Army.

With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Roper and Neuman filed the emergency order today. Then, unexpectedly, the clerk in Dona Ana County decided that the “state’s marriage statutes are gender neutral and do not expressly prohibit Dona Ana County from issuing marriage licenses to same-gender couples,” according to a statement obtained by the AP.

“Any further denial of marriage licenses to these couples violates the United States and New Mexico Constitution and the New Mexico Human Rights Act,” Ellins said. “Dona Ana County is upholding New Mexico law by issuing these marriage licenses, and I see no reason to make committed couples in Dona Ana County wait another minute to marry.”

County clerks usually face challenges when they take the law into their own hands like that, and the issue may ultimately have to be resolved in court. But for now, couples have immediately descended on Las Cruces, NM where they began receiving their marriage licenses. Dona Ana is the first county in New Mexico to effectively allow gay marriage, though a series of lawsuits are pending in the state on that very issue, including Roper’s and Neuman’s.

However, Geraldine Salazar, clerk of Santa Fe County where Roper and Neuman live, said she does not plan on following Dona Ana’s lead because of those lawsuits. Just yesterday, a gay couple from Santa Fe asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to to streamline the way they handle same-sex marriage lawsuits. Roper and Neuman hope to add their voice to the chorus of change taking New Mexico by storm.

“I want to know that my family will be protected if I pass away,” Roper said in a statement from the NCLR. “Angelique and I have been married in our hearts for 21 years and raised three wonderful children together. Because of my illness, we do not have the luxury of waiting years for the courts to decide whether loving, committed same-sex couples can marry in New Mexico. For us, the time is now.”


Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/new-mexico-ga...#ixzz2ciMHELKk

[MsTinkerbelly]

August 28, 2013, 12:18 pm

Marriage Equality in New Mexico

By ANDREW ROSENTHAL


When arguing against same-sex marriage, opponents often stress that marriage has always been defined as a union between a man and a woman.

But our laws, at least, often did not wade into the question of gender one way or another — until the 1990s, when anti-gay-marriage forces began lobbying state legislatures to revise state constitutions, and pushed the Defense of Marriage Act through Congress. More recently, in a smaller, but growing, number of states, marriage-equality advocates have succeeded in establishing — through the courts or legislative action or voter referendums — that all adults can marry the person of their choosing, regardless of gender.

Alone among the states, New Mexico never jumped on the definitional bandwagon. It never banned same-sex unions, and it never specifically permitted them, either. And in the absence of clarity, American standards of equality and non-discrimination won out.

Last week, the clerk of Dona Ana county decided to recognize same-sex unions. Then a judge in Santa Fe directed the clerk in that county to begin issuing marriage licenses. On Monday, a state judge ruled that marriage between couples of the same sex is entirely legal and ordered the clerk of Bernalillo County, which includes Albuquerque, to issue licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

The Associated Press reported that Judge Alan Malott “had been asked only to order that the state recognize, on her death certificate, a dying woman’s marriage Friday in Santa Fe to her longtime partner.”

But he went a step farther and said that New Mexico’s constitution bans discrimination in marriage against a particular group of citizens. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico was, naturally, elated. Laura Schauer called the ruling “monumental.”

The ruling does not cover the rest of New Mexico’s counties, and so it seems inevitable that the New Mexico state legislature, which has Democratic majorities, and its Republican governor, Susana Martinez, are about to come under intense political fire from the far right to amend the constitution. They should resist.