What is new on the Gay Marriage front?

[Kulindahr]

You should do this every week

And be our new JockBoy?

 

[Rolyo85]

And be our new JockBoy?

Lol he's already our old one...

 

[White Eagle]

I got this in an email this AM. I could not find it at AFER.org.

Adam Umhoefer ([Email Address: Removed])

11/19/13

So much has changed since this summer, when our Supreme Court victory enabled gay and lesbian couples to get married in California. I wanted to give you a quick update.

This fall, AFER announced that our marriage equality work is continuing in federal court. Now, our case in Virginia is at a critical juncture.

[Quoted Text: Truncated] American Foundation for Equal Rights. © 2013

Source Link: http://www.afer.org/blog/afers-federal-case-for-marriage-equality-progresses-in-virginia/

 

[Alnitak]

I got this in an email this AM. I could not find it at AFER.org.

AFER is a strong organization and I have complete faith in their abilities, but they could use to publicize their efforts a bit more and explain the process in Bostic v. Rainey a bit better. The media often confuses this case with Harris v. McDonnell, which is the ACLU's competing federal case in the western district of Virginia.

In both Virginia cases we are just waiting on the judges to rule over the summary judgment motions. Then we should have either hearings on the merits or trials very soon.

Stay tuned!!

 

[White Eagle]

AFER is a strong organization and I have complete faith in their abilities, but they could use to publicize their efforts a bit more and explain the process in Bostic v. Rainey a bit better. The media often confuses this case with Harris v. McDonnell, which is the ACLU's competing federal case in the western district of Virginia.

In both Virginia cases we are just waiting on the judges to rule over the summary judgment motions. Then we should have either hearings on the merits or trials very soon.

Stay tuned!!

I shall stay tuned. Thanks to you and others here that know all the legalese helps me through the process! Thanks.

 

[Alnitak]

I shall stay tuned. Thanks to you and others here that know all the legalese helps me through the process! Thanks.

Glad to share.

You might also like to follow De Leon v. Perry which was just filed in San Antonio, Texas on October 28. The PACER case number is 5:13-cv-00982.

Most of the ongoing 24 cases are not sponsored by national organizations, only nine of them actually, so you will not hear news about those independent cases very often.

 

[Alnitak]

Debate in Scottish Parliament will begin at 5:00 in Edinburgh, that's 12:00 EST.

Watch it LIVE: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/newsandmediacentre/66743.aspx

 

[White Eagle]

I'm sitting here playing a game and listening to the TV and the Gov of Illinois comes on and says Illinois is #16. Gay marriage in Ill. yayayayay

 

[chrisrobin]

I'm sitting here playing a game and listening to the TV and the Gov of Illinois comes on and says Illinois is #16. Gay marriage in Ill. yayayayay

​

 

[AstareGod]

Great news all around today! Congrats to everyone in Illinois. Let's keep up the good track record!

 

[Alnitak]

Well done Illinois, well done. There are those who didn't think it could be done but you did it. Hundreds of thousands of gay couples can now get married in their own state should they so choose. This is especially important for those who cannot travel due to illness or indigence.


Another show of progress today, the first reading in Scotland passed 98-15.

http://www.advocate.com/politics/ma...ig-win-parliament-good-sign-marriage-equality

The bill now goes to committee.

Great news all around today! Congrats to everyone in Illinois. Let's keep up the good track record!

This certainly has been an exceptional year. We have achieved marriage equality in seven more states this year and New Mexico is soon to follow as the eighth.

 

[Ninja108]

New Mexico is likely to be number 17. After that though,it will be trickier due to the state bans.
For now let us celebrate before we focus on the fights ahead

 

[AstareGod]

Things will probably get a bit more difficult perhaps after OR and NV and any other states that still have domestic partnerships-only get marriage equality. Those are pretty much the only states we've seen progress with recently. Things will get a bit tricky, but I was surprised to hear a few weeks ago that there are pending lawsuits in places like ID and TN, both traditionally very red states with constitutional bans in place. If we have to go state-by-state, that's what we'll have to do, but hopefully sooner rather than later, a higher court will take a look at the double standards going on and make a decision in our favor once and for all.

 

[Alnitak]

Things will probably get a bit more difficult perhaps after OR and NV and any other states that still have domestic partnerships-only get marriage equality. Those are pretty much the only states we've seen progress with recently. Things will get a bit tricky, but I was surprised to hear a few weeks ago that there are pending lawsuits in places like ID and TN, both traditionally very red states with constitutional bans in place. If we have to go state-by-state, that's what we'll have to do, but hopefully sooner rather than later, a higher court will take a look at the double standards going on and make a decision in our favor once and for all.

Our options narrow, but I don't think 'difficult' is the right word to describe our developing situation.

Statutes have been extremely difficult to pass and every state we have has been hard fought and hard defended. Often our margin of victory was razor thin. In Vermont, we got the exact number to override Jim Douglas. In Illinois and Maryland, we won by two votes. A few states we failed the first time and had to wait. For instance, California was arguable the hardest situation marriage equality advocates have ever faced. We passed two statutes that were vetoed, lost a painful amendment campaign, and then waged a state, federal, and cultural fight for five years. So I don't see how it gets harder than that.

Legislative efforts now focus on the amendment campaigns. It would be nice to nip the one developing ban in Indiana in the bud, but as the situation stands now it is likely to appear on the 2014 ballot. We can also expect Nevada to approve its ballot repeal question a second time in 2015, should Sevcik v. Sandoval not be decided by then.

Eventually as you mentioned the only option will be federal court. I actually think that's easier, because the only people who put effort in are the lawyers. In between election years, we just take a back seat and watch the courtroom drama unfold like a TV show.

 

[AstareGod]

I meant difficult in the sense of states like my home state of Mississippi, where it will likely take a federal court ruling to get anything accomplished in the next 10 or 20 years, and I hesitate to say my lifetime, but who knows? That's why I have plans to get out of here. I'm not going to sit around waiting for the leaders in my state to get their shit together. I have a life to live and no time to wait. Unfortunately, if potential voters like me move to marriage equality states, that reduces the chances that if it ever does come down to a popular vote in a state like Mississippi that we'll get marriage equality.

I don't know off the top of my head, but have we had any constitutional amendments repealed so far? I hesitate to call Hawaii's ban a constitutional one since the amendment simply gave the legislature the power to define marriage and didn't actually define marriage itself. I'd figure constitutional amendments would be more difficult to reverse, and we have a bunch more of those than just state statutes.

 

[Alnitak]

I meant difficult in the sense of states like my home state of Mississippi, where it will likely take a federal court ruling to get anything accomplished in the next 10 or 20 years, and I hesitate to say my lifetime, but who knows? That's why I have plans to get out of here. I'm not going to sit around waiting for the leaders in my state to get their shit together. I have a life to live and no time to wait. Unfortunately, if potential voters like me move to marriage equality states, that reduces the chances that if it ever does come down to a popular vote in a state like Mississippi that we'll get marriage equality.

Okay your case it is difficult, but at least Mississippi has citizens' initiative. It won't be next year or even this decade, but the state will eventually come around. For everyone I think there is a good chance the 50-state ruling is just around the corner.

I don't know off the top of my head, but have we had any constitutional amendments repealed so far? I hesitate to call Hawaii's ban a constitutional one since the amendment simply gave the legislature the power to define marriage and didn't actually define marriage itself. I'd figure constitutional amendments would be more difficult to reverse, and we have a bunch more of those than just state statutes.

No, but Oregon is most likely be the first one next year. I agree, Hawaii's case is different.

It won't be too difficult to reverse if we have comfortable margins. We already have that in Michigan where the polls are in the high 50s, the latest one showed 57% support for same sex marriage, and numbers are also good in Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon. By 2016 I think they will be there in Ohio and Arizona as well.

 

[Kulindahr]

Things will probably get a bit more difficult perhaps after OR and NV and any other states that still have domestic partnerships-only get marriage equality. Those are pretty much the only states we've seen progress with recently. Things will get a bit tricky, but I was surprised to hear a few weeks ago that there are pending lawsuits in places like ID and TN, both traditionally very red states with constitutional bans in place. If we have to go state-by-state, that's what we'll have to do, but hopefully sooner rather than later, a higher court will take a look at the double standards going on and make a decision in our favor once and for all.

In terms of court action, the states with domestic partnerships should "fall" quickly, because separate but equal is never equal.

 

[chrisrobin]

.
Just working on a hunch, but in the not-to-distant future there will be such a "hodge podge" of lawsuits, the only sensible thing to do (my idea) is to let the SCOTUS handle it. Only solution (I hope) will be that sexual orientation will be attached to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - one can only hope.

 

[scream4ever]

More states are likely to announce soon that they will be mounting initiatives for 2014. Colorado seems the most likely. Supposedly in Ohio they have the signatures but they may wait until 2016 depending on what happens in Indiana.

 

[kallipolis]

Another article discussing civil partnership rights for gays in Greece still a distant aspiration with our priorities, paying the rent, the utilities, and groceries taking precedence:

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite6_1_21/11/2013_528693

I quote:

The issue of same-sex unions, however, promises to pose the biggest challenge when and if authorities decide to hone the law further given that Greece is a relatively conservative society.

In its decision earlier this month, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights reiterated that “same-sex couples are just as capable as different-sex couples of entering into stable committed relationships.” It ruled that Law 3719 was therefore in violation of same-sex applicants’ right to equal treatment.

It is noted that from the 19 members of the Council of Europe, just Greece and Lithuania prohibit same-sex couples from entering a civil partnership.