“This case could result in the next major court ruling on the constitutionality of DOMA”

(San Francisco, December 17, 2010)—The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California heard oral arguments on Friday in a Lambda Legal lawsuit against the Obama Administration that may have major implications for the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA.

Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster LLP filed suit against the federal government earlier this year on behalf of Karen Golinski, a 19-year employee of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Golinski seeks the same spousal health insurance for her wife, Amy Cunninghis, that heterosexual employees receive for their spouses. Golinski and Cunninghis have been together for 21 years. Golinski v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requests an order directing the agency to obey prior rulings by the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals awarding the equal insurance benefits to Golinski. OPM should rescind its instruction to Golinski’s insurer, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, not to enroll Golinski’s wife in the family health insurance plan.

“This case could result in the next major court ruling on the constitutionality of DOMA,” said Jennifer C. Pizer, Senior Counsel for Lambda Legal. “This began as a simple internal personnel matter; the irony is that the Obama Administration, through the decisions of OPM and the Department of Justice to assert DOMA as an excuse for the discriminatory treatment of Karen Golinski, has turned this into a challenge to DOMA itself.”

The judge previously asked both sides to file additional legal briefs addressing, among other topics, whether or not DOMA violates the U.S. Constitution. Lambda Legal has explained that the law indeed is unconstitutional because it discriminates based on sex and sexual orientation and infringes on the fundamental right to privacy and respect for one’s family relationships recognized by the Supreme Court in Lambda Legal’s landmark case, Lawrence v. Texas.

“Judge White, both through his request for supplementary information during the briefing process and his questioning at today’s hearing, seems keenly interested in how the Obama Administration now is defending DOMA, after having reached out to block benefits for Karen and Amy,” said Pizer. “He seemed rightly skeptical of the government’s argument that DOMA maintains ‘consistency’ in how the federal government allocates federal rights and benefits. Before DOMA, the federal government—consistently—respected all legal marriages, no matter what state issued the license or who married whom. Now, for the first time under DOMA, the government inconsistently distinguishes among legally married people, favoring heterosexuals and ignoring lesbians and gay men, and for no reasons other than ignorance, prejudice and anti-gay religious condemnation.”

“Judge White also skewered another piece of twisted logic on OPM’s part: that the Executive Branch agency’s duty to negotiate contracts with insurance plans to cover federal workers somehow authorizes it to meddle in and to thwart individual enrollment decisions ordered by top managers of a different branch of the federal government. OPM’s facilitation and support functions go nowhere that far.”

Lambda Legal’s Pizer represents Golinski together with Rita Lin, James McGuire, Gregory Dresser and Aaron Jones of Morrison & Foerster LLP.

The case is Golinski v. United States Office of Personnel Management and John Berry, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in his official capacity.

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Contact: Jason Pérez Howe; 213-382-7600 x 247; jho...@lambdalegal.org

by David Badash on December 16, 2010

Eric Alva is the first Marine injured in the Iraq War, the first American for that matter, and he’s gay. Alva won a purple heart but lost his leg. He calls General Amos’ comments, that gays in the military are a distraction to straight soldiers and could cost lives, or limbs, “conduct unbecoming.”

Alva continues,

“I was just really taken aback on how disrespectful someone who is the leader of the United States Marine Corps can talk about, you know, members in the armed forces who is aware of that there are gay service members serving in the Marine Corps, and all branches of service. But what he did was totally, what we call in the military, conduct unbecoming. I mean, he literally took my Purple Heart and threw it in my face. I mean, to say that there are distractions and could cause deaths or even loss of limbs for people because of knowing that there are openly gay men and women serving in the military, I mean, this is just unbelievable, how someone can really act in a leadership role.”

“I mean, this is someone who I’m waiting for to get that call from the Commander in Chief himself, like General McCrystal, and maybe taken into that Oval Office and walk out not in charge of the Marines anymore.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports December 15, 2010:

Not only do supporters of the repeal have reason to celebrate today because of the House of Representatives’ vote in favor of a stand-alone bill to repeal the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, but also because the chances of the bill passing the Senate improved when Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine said she will support it.

“After careful analysis of the comprehensive report compiled by the Department of Defense and thorough consideration of the testimony provided by the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service chiefs, I support repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law,” Snowe said in a statement. “However, as was stated in the letter I signed along with all of my Republican colleagues to the Majority Leader on Dec. 1, we must first fund the government beyond Dec. 18, and prevent the largest tax increase in our nation’s history from affecting all Americans on New Year’s Day before addressing other legislation.”

Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-CT, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, who are leading the push in the Senate for the stand-alone bill repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, believe they have the 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate threshold.

At last week’s Senate vote when the repeal was attached to the annual defense authorization bill, the measure fell only three votes short.

56 Democrats voted for repeal at that time. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., missed the vote due to a dentist’s appointment, while Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, opposed repeal, arguing that the policy “probably should be repealed in the near future,” but not now because of “the effect implementation would have on our front line combat troops at this time.”

With Lincoln’s vote, that would mean 57 Democrats are in favor of repeal. Then come the Republicans. Collins brings the tally to 58 and Snowe brings it to 59.

Two other Republicans – Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Lisa Murkowski – have also voiced support for repeal, but both of them voted against repeal last week on procedural grounds. If the repeal is to pass – and to do so it must overcome a packed Senate lame-duck calendar – Democrats need to secure the support of Brown or Murkowski.

–UPDATE–

Murkowski will support the stand-alone bill, her spokesman says, so Democrats appear to have lined up the 60 votes they will need in the Senate to pass the repeal.

“Sen. Murkowski will support a stand-alone repeal of the DADT law,” said Murkowski spokesman Michael Brumas. “With the tax package out of the way, and legislation to fund the government on a glide path to passage, Sen. Murkowski will vote to move to DADT when it is brought to the floor.”

June 13, 2010|By Kristen Mack, Tribune reporter

With six months left in his four-year term, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias signed an executive order on Sunday extending family-leave benefits to gay and lesbian employees in domestic partnerships.

The new policy will allow gay and lesbian employees of his office to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a sick partner or relative, the same benefit given to their married co-workers. It also would allow gay and lesbian employees to take time off for the birth or adoption of a child.

“These aren’t added bonuses or employee perks,” Giannoulias said. “These are the same basic rights other employees have long come to expect.”

By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 14, 2010

Cocktails had been served on the terrace, the ubiquitous Washington buffet of tenderloin and salmon consumed, and the gay law students settled in to hear from the famed legal mind who is leading the battle to make sure they have the right to marry whomever they want, wherever in the United States of America they live.

But first, an introduction: The assembled were reminded of Theodore B. Olson’s sterling conservative credentials; about his loyal service in President Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department; that he was President George W. Bush’s solicitor general; that perhaps the crowning achievement in his gaudy career as a Supreme Court advocate was persuading five justices to stop the vote counting in Florida in the 2000 election and acknowledge that Bush had won. Read the rest of this article »

- www.desmoinesregister.com June 6th, 2010

A large majority of Iowa Republican primary voters say Iowans should have a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, according to the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll.

More than three-quarters of Iowans planning to vote in Tuesday’s Republican primary say Iowans should have a chance to vote on changing the constitution specifically to ban gay marriage.

But the same consensus does not exist for ousting Iowa Supreme Court judges who voted last year to invalidate Iowa’s statutory ban on same-sex marriage. Read the rest of this article »

By CASEY MCNERTHNEY
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF June 3rd, 2010

A man who was previously convicted of a hate crime was arrested after he yelled a derogatory slur at a transgender person and assaulted her, police said.
The incident happened about 3:50 p.m. Sunday at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest. The transgender person, who police say identifies as a woman, told an officer the suspect approached at a bus stop, yelled slurs at her and punched her several times with closed fists.
The suspect, a 51-year-old man, was arrested and booked into King County Jail. Court records show he was previously convicted for assault and a separate drug charge in 2004, and at least two other drug cases. In one 2007 case, police caught him smoking crack under the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Read the rest of this article »

BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH http://blog.buzzflash.com June 1st, 2010

Better Courts Now’s candidates are on a ‘mission from God’ to transform San Diego’s court system.

If you’ve had your fill of athletes thanking God for their good fortune on the basketball court or gridiron, and/or politicians claiming that God directed them to run for public office –- think George W. Bush –- then do not read any further. If, however, you’re interested in and/or intrigued by the “Mission from God” conceit, and wondering if folks adopting that charge from on high just might be coming to your humble township, then check out what’s been happening in San Diego, California.

What may have started out as a small, almost stealth-like campaign –- similar to those that took over school boards across the country — has evolved into a rock-em, sock-em, full-throated effort to remove four Democratic-appointed judges from Superior Court, and replace them with four bona-fide “Mission from God” Christian conservative attorneys. Read the rest of this article »

- www.buenosairesherald.com June 1st, 2010

It’s now the turn of the Upper House, for the debate over same-sex marriage is about to continue in the General Legislation Committee. After a controversial demonstration against the initiative took place in the streets of Buenos Aires yesterday, some groups aim at approving the bill that seeks to amend the Civil Code to allow gay couples to get married.

Liliana Negre de Alonso leads the Committee. According to several sources, the debate is scheduled to start at 4:00pm.
Several leaders are pledged to be present, such as Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transexual Argentine Federation President María Rachid, and the head of La Fulana community centre Claudia Castrosin Verdú.

The bill aiming at allowing same-sex couples to get married posts the support of the biggest caucuses’ heads in the Upper House, Victory Front’s Miguel Angel Pichetto and Radical Gerardo Morales.

by O. KAY HENDERSON on JUNE 1, 2010
www.radioiowa.com

The Iowa Family Policy Center and a pastor-led group called “Purpose Ministries” have collected petition signatures from over eight-hundred Iowa pastors, urging Iowa’s elected officials to let Iowans vote on a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

Iowa Family Policy Center president Chuck Hurley says the petitions will be presented to every statewide candidate in Iowa as well as all of the people who’re running for seats in the legislature.

“Whether they see the light, we believe and we hope that they will feel the heat,” Hurley says. “And that they will recognize that ‘we, the people’ as 31 other states peoples have done deserve…a chance to vote on the Iowa Marriage Amendment.” Read the rest of this article »