- by, Evan Wolfson Executive Director of Freedom to Marry, and author of Why Marriage Matters
Posted: March 24, 2010

In the wake of the pointed refusal by New Jersey’s legislature to take action, Lambda Legal has returned to the New Jersey Supreme Court to win the freedom to marry. Lambda’s attorneys filed a motion directly with the high court, asking it to bring New Jersey across the finish line to the equality that the constitution commands. The suit asks the Court to cure unconstitutional discrimination against lesbian and gay couples by finally ending their exclusion from marriage.

Representing the same committed loving couples it fought for in the last round, Lambda Legal reactivated its New Jersey marriage case, Lewis v. Harris, filing what’s known as a “motion in aid of litigants’ rights.” That motion seeks to compel the state of New Jersey to follow the law and obey a high court order now more than three years old.

In October 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in which every justice agreed that New Jersey’s constitution does not permit the state to continue depriving loving, committed lesbian and gay couples from equal rights. The Court directed the legislature to make it right, and fast. After years in court, the deadline was 180 days to give lesbian and gay New Jerseyans equal rights. The clearest path to equality at that time was to stop discriminating against couples who applied for marriage licenses. It still is. But the legislature chose another path, a novel mechanism called civil union.

It is now clear that civil unions do not work, and fall far short of the equality commanded by the constitution and ordered by the Supreme Court.

When the legislature set up the civil union experiment, it also set a control on that experiment, mandating a Civil Union Review Commission to monitor the civil union law and how it played out. The thirteen-member Commission included stakeholders from around the state and designees from state government: representatives from the Division on Civil Rights, the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Banking and Insurance, the Department of Health and Senior Services, and the Department of Children and Families.

Members of the Commission held numerous hearings around the state, generating about 900 pages of transcripts. They heard from 150 witnesses. They heard from New Jersey residents with civil unions, from children whose parents are limited to civil unions, and from medical, therapeutic, and legal experts about the harms inflicted by the inadequacy f civil union.

The Commission heard from people who had terrifying medical emergencies where they couldn’t get doctors to understand that their partner had the right to speak for them and make decisions if they couldn’t do so themselves.

The Commission heard that the civil union designation actually invites discrimination: for example, Commissioners heard from people who can’t get health benefits at work, because the benefits plans are written to cover married spouses only–not for people in some unusual scheme called a “civil union.” And then the Commission heard from union leaders about the virtually insurmountable barriers to negotiating separate civil union benefits coverage, which would be necessary for people who can’t show they are “married.”

The official Commission heard from people who had to “out” themselves in initial job interviews, by revealing they were in a civil union when they asked about job benefits, or who had to out themselves at jury duty because a simple question, “are you married?” has no simple answer–for them.

The Commissioners heard reams of evidence about confusion over civil unions. They heard overwhelming complaints about forms that ask for vital information in a precise way, and then give you no place to designate your civil union partner, followed by long explanations about civil unions to schools and doctors and insurance companies, and then the puzzled question back: “But you’re not married, right?”

The Commissioners heard about other practical problems from the confusion around civil unions. They heard, for example, that families worry about traveling, because given how badly understood civil union has been in New Jersey (which made it up especially for lesbian and gay couples), what might happen when you travel to another state that doesn’t even have them? Who would understand what they mean?

After all, unlike in 2006, no other state now has civil union. The two states that offered civil union when the Lewis case began have done away with it in favor of the freedom to marry itself, finding that civil union wasn’t adequate, didn’t work to fully protect families, and is far from equal. (Connecticut’s Supreme Court overturned civil union in 2008 and ordered the freedom to marry, a decision later embraced by the legislature, and Vermont’s legislature voted to scrap civil union and embrace marriage in 2009.)

The New Jersey Commission also heard from families, including many of Lambda Legal’s plaintiffs, trying to raise their children with dignity and respect and a sense of fairness, who can’t answer their children’s questions about why the government treats their parents like they’re not as good as their friends’ parents. They heard from the children themselves, who want to know why their families are treated as second-rate and unworthy of full, equal respect.

And after the official Civil Union Review Commission was done listening to all of these experts and heartfelt stories, it reported that the civil union experiment had failed. The Commission sent a unanimous, urgent recommendation to the legislature that had created it: End the denial of the freedom to marry now.

Sadly, though, despite the evidence, conclusion, and a hard-fought campaign by Garden State Equality, the legislature failed to comply with the recommendation of its own Commission. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard more testimony, at more hearings, from more families, more kids, and more experts, but then, in the last days of the session — under the long shadow of the incoming governor, who took office in January after a campaign tinged with anti-equality rhetoric — the Senate rejected the marriage bill. Despite the unanimous Court order that New Jersey’s gay families must be treated equally, despite all the evidence that the Court’s order is not being met, despite the suffering and degradation underlying that evidence, and despite the concessions by even anti-gay legislators that the civil union law is not working, the prospects that New Jersey’s legislative branch will take the needed action are now nil.

There is now but one path to justice.

The families who returned to the New Jersey Supreme Court this week, the plaintiffs in Lewis v. Harris, have walked a long and pain-laden road. Their pain began well before the case began in 2002. That painful history informed the Supreme Court’s unanimous equality decision in 2006. And now it should power this final stage, as Lambda Legal asks the Court to turn equal rights on paper into equal rights in the real world. It is time for the Court to enforce its order and fulfill the constitutional command of equality, ending the denial of marriage in New Jersey. Same-sex couples in New Jersey shouldn’t have to wait any longer.

Co-authored by Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal Director of Lambda Legal

- www.news.blogs.cnn.com March 24th, 2010

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to announce changes Thursday easing the Defense Department’s controversial “don’t ask don’t tell” policy prohibiting homosexuals from serving openly in the military, a senior Defense Department official has confirmed to CNN.

The official said one of the changes will be that outings by third parties may no longer be automatic grounds for initiating separation proceedings, especially if it is proven that the person making the allegation has a grudge against the military member.

Gates’ announcement will focus on regulatory changes that can be made at the Pentagon without the approval of Congress, which has been debating whether to change the law. President Barack Obama has asked for a repeal of the controversial measure.

- www.queerty.com March 24th, 2010

In addition to supporting a bill that would repeal the just-passed health care reform law, Utah’s Republican Sen. Bob Bennett just introduced an amendment that would, very sneakily, halt Washington D.C.’s same-sex marriage law by forcing the initiative to go to a city-wide vote. (He just tried this with the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization bill, but failed.) Not that most onlookers expect Bennett’s bill to pass; Democrats are working to rebuff any GOP amendments to its health care law.

Read more: http://www.queerty.com/utah-sen-bob-bennetts-health-care-sneak-attack-on-d-c-s-gay-marriage-20100324/#ixzz0j7o6Sl6l

by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 3/24/2010 www.americablog.com

Just when you think the Catholic Bishops can’t sink any lower, they do.

Richard Malone, the Bishop of Maine, just stopped funding the homeless program at Preble Street, one of Maine’s largest social service organizations, because the group opposed the repeal of the state’s new marriage law last fall.

The details are at AMERICAblog Gay. Here’s a link to the website for Preble Street. The organization really does the Lord’s work.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict, is ensnared in a child rape scandal in his old diocese. The U.S. Bishops have already paid out $2.7 billion in damages to victims in this country. But, those Bishops aren’t going to let any pro-gay policy go unchallenged.

Why does anyone on Capitol Hill listen to the Catholic Bishops?

By JULIE HUBBARD – jhub...@macon.com Sign up for daily e-mail news alerts

— Derrick Martin worried that he could be responsible for getting this year’s prom at Bleckley County High School canceled.

That’s because the 18-year-old senior is gay, and he plans to take his boyfriend to the year’s most anticipated dance.

That’s something that’s never happened in this small Middle Georgia town. A similar plan by two female students in Mississippi this month prompted school officials there to cancel the prom, making national news.

After asking Bleckley County school officials permission in January to take another boy to the prom, Martin got word last week that his high school will allow it. Bleckley’s prom is April 17 in the high school cafeteria.

“I didn’t expect them to say yes,” he said. “It’s who I am. I have the same rights.

“It’s my senior prom, and I wanted to be able to prove not everyone would cancel prom.”

Martin, an honor student who tutors at-risk elementary and middle school students after school, knew the move would be controversial for the town of about 5,200 residents.

At his high school, prom dates from outside counties must be approved in advance, so Martin went to his principal and asked.

“At first she said no, Cochran wasn’t ready for it,” he said.

Then last week, school officials said they have no policy in place against it.

“You don’t have the right to say no,” principal Michelle Masters said. “As a principal, I don’t judge him. I’m taught not to judge. I have to push my own beliefs to the background.”

She’s just hoping it won’t become an issue in the community and distract from juniors and seniors who have looked forward to the event all school year.

As fellow senior Errin Lucas put it, “Have you seen Cochran? There is nothing else to live for.”

Charlotte Pipkin, the superintendent of schools, said the school board didn’t take any votes on Martin’s request, but the board did discuss the matter during a board meeting.

“Students are allowed to bring their date to prom,” Pipkin said. “There’s nothing that says who the date is.

“I want this to be an enjoyable event, and I don’t want anything to take away from that,” she added.

Martin came out as gay during his sophomore year in high school, but even now he said not all his classmates are tolerant.

He expects he may get attention during the prom “lead out,” in which the school announces each senior’s name and the date’s name.

“I’ll take out insurance on my tux,” he said.

It’s a big step for the high school — and the community, many townsfolk said.

“With our town being so small and country, it’s a very big thing,” Lucas said. “It’s unexpected, but I’m glad. We have to move forward.”

A sampling of residents Monday drew plenty of objections to Martin’s plan, but few people were willing to give their name.

Miranda Taylor, who was working behind the counter at a Wendy’s restaurant, said “a lot of people will stare,” but she thinks the move shows Bleckley County is more open.

The high school prom will have security.

Even if there is a backlash, both educators said they won’t cancel or change their plans for the prom. It would not be fair to the students, Pipkin said.

Martin said he could have settled for what he did last year and simply attend the prom with a female friend, but he didn’t want to do that this year. “It’s standing up for the rights thing, especially after the Mississippi canceled prom,” he said. “It’s senior prom. It’s pretty big.”

To contact writer Julie Hubbard, call 744-4331.

Read more: http://www.macon.com/2010/03/23/1069261/bleckley-school-officials-allowing.html#ixzz0j24wMm4u

- Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow – 3/23/2010

New Jersey homosexuals have revived a court case for homosexual marriage.

Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council (NJFPC), is tracking the lawsuit that was filed after some same-sex couples allegedly discovered that the government, hospitals, schools, employers and other institutions do not always recognize their rights.

“They filed a motion in aid of litigants’ rights, which effectively would reopen Lewis v. Harris, the lawsuit originally that was commended to the legislature to form an equal structure of benefits, which the legislature did,” Deo explains.

That was civil unions for same-gender pairs, and even though homosexual rights groups claim civil unions are difficult to understand, the NJFPC president notes that there have only been about a dozen complaints over a span of three years, and that every case has been rectified. He believes it is a clear indication that activists will not stop until they win what they want — a special right to marriage.

“Well, that’s very true. They are relentless about their agenda, and at times I wish that our people were just as passionate as the homosexuals activists were on the other side,” he comments.

Republican Governor Chris Christi said during his successful campaign for that post that he would veto any bill from the legislature legalizing homosexual marriage — and that since momentum for homosexual rights groups came to a halt with his election, that may explain why activists are going back to the courts instead.

SAN FRANCISCO — Civil rights groups that campaigned against California’s same-sex marriage ban have lost an attempt to withhold internal memos and e-mails from lawyers for the other side.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled Monday that the groups must surrender the campaign documents as evidence in a federal trial on the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

Walker’s decision upholds a previous ruling by a federal magistrate.

The trial is the first in federal court to examine whether the U.S. Constitution prevents states from outlawing gay marriage.

The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the three groups that must turn over campaign materials, previously said it would appeal if Walker upheld the magistrate’s order.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By The Associated Press
03.22.2010

(Providence, RI) A woman who says she was raped by an on-duty Providence police officer testified Monday that the man came into her hospital room grinning and in uniform after the alleged attack in 2007.

The 22-year-old woman said she recalled seeing officer Marcus Huffman in the hours after the alleged rape, but told the jury that she could not remember how long he was there or anything else about the encounter.

“I thought it was him that I was with,” she said. “I thought it was him I had got in the car with.”

Prosecutors allege that Huffman, who is charged with first-degree sexual assault in Providence Superior Court, raped the woman in the bathroom of a deserted police substation after offering her a ride outside a gay nightclub where she had been turned away for being too drunk.

Prosecutor Maureen Keough asked the woman if she had given any indication that she wanted to have sex with Huffman, and she said, “No.” She testified that she identifies herself as a lesbian.

The woman wept as she saw a photograph of the bathroom where she says the rape happened in March 2007. The jury also saw surveillance footage that the woman said showed her entering the building with Huffman – and then leaving alone – and pictures of the clothing the woman said she had been wearing that night.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they were victims of sex crimes.

The woman said she was familiar with the building because she used to deal drugs in the area.

She testified last week that she passed out and woke up in a bathroom stall with her pants undone and her undergarments removed. She then walked to her aunt’s house nearby and was taken to the hospital.

Huffman has been suspended without pay from the department.

Huffman’s lawyer, Robert Caron, did not give an opening statement to the jury, but tried to seize on apparent inconsistencies in the woman’s memory. He said she told hospital staff that she had woken up in Huffman’s car with her clothes off – a statement she could not recall making.

By Jennifer Vanasco, editor in chief, 365gay.com

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who told state colleges and universities that they needed to end discrimination bans for LGBTs, is now making it even clearer where he stands.

Cuccinelli was asked on video whether gay acts are detrimental to our culture. In response, he says: “The acts are. You certainly want everybody in your society to be integrated in the society, so, that’s a focus that I’d like to take, but there’s a distinction. And it’s one that the General Assembly seems to be wrestling with every year, and we’ll leave that one to them for now.”

Click here to see video:

Lt Dan Choi was arrested in front of the White House yesterday. Watch video of him just before the arrest here: