Tomorrow, March 5, is our big day in court in our legal challenge to Prop. 8. The California Supreme Court will be hearing oral argument from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. PST. This is the lawsuit we filed the day after the elections with NCLR, Lambda Legal and Equality California, charging that it was improper to put the issue before the voters in the first place.
For several years now the LGBT project has been working to pass a comprehensive domestic partnership bill in New Mexico. The bill would provide both gay and straight couples (like the New Mexicans in these videos) with all of the legal benefits the state provides to married couples, including health care benefits, medical decision-making, adoption rights and protections upon death of a partner. While we’ve come very close, we’ve always come up short at the end of the day.
Today kicks off the 12th annual Freedom to Marry Week. This year, the week is focused on encouraging people across the country to have seven conversations in seven days to move people to support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. Readers of this blog may recall that just last week we launched the Tell 3 campaign to encourage people to talk to three close friends and relatives about what it means to be LGBT. Why the sudden push for conversations? Because that’s what’s ultimately going to build support for LGBT equality on all fronts. So whether you care about marriage or nondiscrimination protections, please try to talk to at least three (and as many as seven) people this week.
With all eyes focused on Hillary Clinton’s confirmation to the post of Secretary of State, we here at the ACLU are hopeful that there will be some changes in how the new leadership at the State Department treats people with HIV.
Late last week, it was confirmed to us that the one of the contracts that the State Department used (and may continue to use) with its contractors required the contractors to submit a negative HIV test for each person it employs. This was confirmed in a motion filed by State Department contractor Triple Canopy in an HIV discrimination lawsuit we filed against the State Department and Triple Canopy on behalf of a decorated Special Forces veteran who was refused a job performing security for the State Department at the Haitian embassy. While we do not know how many people were barred jobs because of this contract, we know our client is not the only person refused a job with a federal contractor because of HIV.
Earlier this week, the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Lambda Legal filed another brief before the California Supreme Court urging the court to strike down Prop 8 which attempted to take away the right of gay people to marry in the state. This brief was filed in response to the brief filed by the California Attorney General and the anti-gay organizations that supported Prop 8. What is noteworthy about this brief is that while we differ slightly in our legal analysis, we agree with the Attorney General Jerry Brown that Prop 8 should be struck down. We also argue — again in agreement with the Attorney General — that Proposition 8 cannot be applied to invalidate existing marriages because new laws and amendments are presumed to apply only on a prospective basis.
Earlier this month the NYCLU co-hosted an event in the Bronx to discuss the challenges facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families. The well-attended event took place at the Bronx Community Pride Center, which is in the district of state senator Ruben Diaz, a staunch gay marriage foe. Using footage from the event, the NYCLU extended an olive branch to Senator Diaz today through a YouTube new year’s card. Click on the YouTube player below to watch Senator Diaz’s constituents explain what it’s like to be LGBT in the Bronx.
Today a Florida circuit court today struck down a state law that bars lesbians and gay men from adopting (see yesterday's blog post for more about the case). The court granted adoptions to our client Martin Gill, a North Miami resident who, along with his partner, has been raising two foster children since 2004.
The court ruled that the ban violated the equal protection guarantees of the state constitution because it singles out gay people and children raised by gay people for different treatment for no rational reason. The court also found that the ban denies children the right to permanency provided by federal and state law under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.
Tonight voters in Florida approved an amendment to the state constitution that bars lesbian and gay couples from marriage. This is obviously very disappointing to the many lesbian and gay couples in the state who form lasting commitments just like straight couples and need legal protections for their
Tonight voters in Arkansas approved an initiative that bans anyone who lives with a partner he or she is not married to from fostering or adopting children in the state. While the proponents of the initiative made no bones about the fact that this initiative was targeted at lesbian and gay couples, it is the many children in the state’s foster care system who will be hurt the mo
Tonight voters in Arizona passed an initiative that bars lesbian and gay couples from marrying in the state. In 2004, Arizonans made history for being the first state to reject an anti-gay relationship amendment that would have barred even protections for straight couples. This go around, the proponents of the initiative narrowed its scope to bar only
