“NewsWrap"
for the week ending February 7, 2009
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,089, distributed 2-9-09)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]

Reported this week by DonnaAnn Ward and Chris Wilson

  The first judicial salvos have been fired against the U.S. federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA – a bill passed 13 years ago by Congrress and quietly signed into law by President Bill Clinton.  It bans any federal recognition of same-gender unions, including marriages in states where they’re legal, as well as domestic partnerships or civil unions.
Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that DOMA is unconstitutional, and that Tony Sears, who legally married Los Angeles federal public defender Brad Levenson last year, was entitled to the same spousal benefits given to heterosexual couples employed by that department.
The Court’s chief judge, Alex Kozinski, also granted benefits last month to Amy Cunninghis, the same-gender spouse of 9th Circuit Court staff attorney Karen Golinski, but sidestepped constitutional issues in his ruling, saying it was based on the vagueness of a federal statute about whether benefits could be given to someone who wasn’t a family member.
The decisions apply only to the 2 couples because they were administrative dispute resolution cases rather than lawsuits.  But according to some legal analysts, they suggest that DOMA won’t pass constitutional muster if it reaches other federal courts.  They also predict that the rulings will put pressure on the Obama administration to push for repeal of the Act – something thatt’s already on the new President’s agenda.

  The 2 couples, among some 18,000 couples who married in California last year during the few months it was legal for gays and lesbians, await the ruling of the state Supreme Court in a case challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8.  That November voter-approved ballot measure reversed the high court’s May marriage equality ruling, and constitutionally defined marriage as exclusively heterosexual.  Its defenders are also asking the Court to nullify all existing same-gender marriages.  The justices announced this week that they’ll hear oral arguments in the case on March 5th.  They will then have 90 days to issue a ruling.
A total of more than 83 million dollars was spent during the fight over Proposition 8, according to the latest campaign reports made public by the state this week, which far exceeded previously released figures.  It was already declared the most expensive ballot measure on a social issue in U.S. history.
The final tallies show that opponents of Proposition 8 raised 43.3 million dollars in 2008.  The measure's sponsors raised 39.9 million.  The Mormon Church, whose support for the measure has raised the most ire among equality advocates, barely reported by the filing dea dline an additional 189,000 dollars in contributions to the Yes on 8 campaign.  The Church had previously denied any direct financial support for Proposition 8 beyond about 2 thousand dollars for bringing a church elder to California.
It has never denied, however, that millions of pro-Prop 8 dollars came from individual Mormon donors.  The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating charges that the Church has failed to fully report its organizational financial support for Prop 8.
The biggest donor to the Yes campaign, according to the new figures, was the Knights of Columbus, the political arm of the Roman Catholic Church, which gave 1.275 million dollars.
The Colorado-based rabidly anti-gay right wing evangelical group Focus on the Family reported 657,000 dollars in contributions.

  Meanwhile, bills to legalize same-gender marriage have been introduced in Vermont and Maine, and a legislative committee held hearings this week on a marriage equality bill in New Hampshire.  Similar measures are also expected to be considered this year in New Jersey and New York.
The Hawai’i House Judiciary committee unanimously approved a civil unions bill this week that would grant same-gender couples all the rights of marriage except the name.  32 of Hawai’i’s 51 House members have announced support for the measure.  Its fate in the Senate, however, is uncertain.
But the newspaper “The Oregonian” newspaper reported this week that only about 20 per cent20of eligible same-gender couples have signed up for registered partnerships in that state, where they’ve been legal since January 2008.  LGBT activists say that the law may not be enough for many couples, and that some are probably waiting for full marriage equality in the state.
The Wyoming House rejected a bill this week that would have allowed voters to decide whether to amend the state constitution to deny legal recognition to same-gender marriages.  It failed by a vote of 35-to-25 after frequently emotional debate.  Wyoming law already limits marriage to one man and one woman.
The Iowa Supreme Court is also expected to rule on a marriage equality lawsuit this year.

  The Delaware Supreme Court unanimously rejected a lawsuit this week by a lesbian seeking joint custody of her former partner's adopted daughter.  The justices said that the woman had no standing to petition for custody in Family Court because she is not the child's legal parent.  The high court held that, under Delaware law, a person who is considered a “de facto” parent of a child does not have the same rights as a legal parent, and thus is not entitled to custody.  The justices noted that the issues in the case apply to all unmarried partners, but that it was up to lawmakers in the General Assembly to change the statutes.

  A New Jersey Superior Court judge has ruled that a woman in a same-gender Canadian marriage can file for divorce in the state.  Only=2 0married Canadian residents can file for divorce there, but the country does recognize divorces approved elsewhere.  One of the estranged partners wants to re-marry in Canada, but can’t do so without a divorce from her former spouse.  It’s unclear if the state will appeal the ruling.

  The “Boston Herald” reported this week that the lead plaintiff couple in the historic 2003 Massachusetts marriage equality ruling has filed for divorce.  Hillary and Julie Goodridge will share custody of their now 12-year-old daughter Annie.  The couple wed in May 2004 after nearly 20 years together, and neither has responded to requests for comment.
High-profile Boston divorce attorney Gerald Nissenbaum – who doesnn’t represent either woman, and is also a “Herald” columnist – told the newspaper that “Whenever there’s a cause that keeps people together, once the cause is over, in my experience, there’s a high rate of dissolution of the relationship... It’s sad, but it’s real,” he said, adding:  “And what a surprise: Gay people are like everyone else.”

  In New York, a Manhattan Surrogate Court judge ruled this week that the survivor of a legal same-gender marriage is entitled to his deceased partner’s estate as its sole heir.  The two men, who were together for almost 25 years, legally married in Canada in 2008.  None of the deceased partner’s blood relatives contested the inheritance.  The ruling is consistent with other recent state court decisions that legal same-gender marriages contracted elsewhere must be recognized in New York.  Governor David Paterson ordered all state agencies to do so last year.

  The Czech Republic’s CTK news agency reported this week that a total of 712 same-gender couples – 510 male and 202 female - have entered into registered partnerships in the country since the law creating them took effect on July 1st, 2006.  Almost a third of the registrations took place in Prague.
The Czech Republic divorce rate among heterosexual married couples has reached about 50 percent in the past few years, but only 2 percent of the same-gender registered partnerships have been dissolved since they first became available.
The author of the registered partnership statistics called them "a great success in comparison with the number of divorced marriages.”

  In other news, leaders of the 80-million-member global Anglican Communion, meeting in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, agreed this week to continue to disagree about the place of LGBT people in the Church.  The controversial consecration in 2003 of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire by the U.S. wing, the Episcopal Church, and the blessing of same-gender couples by some of its congregations, as well as by some Anglican churches in Canada, have brought the global Christian fellowship to the brink of schism.
Statements released at the conclusion of this week’s 5-day meeting by the Anglican archbishops, or primates, urged their churches to maintain a 2004 moratorium on consecrating other openly gay bishops and blessing lesbian and gay couples, but also criticized conservative Anglican provinces, primarily in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, for welcoming the affiliation of 4 traditionalist U.S. dioceses and dozens of individual parishes who’ve defected from the Episcopal Church over its progressive stance on LGBT issues.
The Episcopal Church’s top governing body, the General Convention, will formally address the contentious issues during its July meeting in Anaheim, California.
The statements from Alexandria deplore the current state of the Anglican Communion, saying "positions and arguments are becoming more extreme" and that rivals are engaging in "fear-mongering, deliberate distortion and demonizing."

  And finally, the first openly gay person to become a High Court judge in Australia has been forced into retirement after 13 years on the bench.  Michael Kirby was praised during a farewell ceremony this week by Australia’s Attorney General Robert McClelland as someone who “will hold a special place in the history of this Court”.  Kirby, who paid tribute to his colleagues and his partner of more than 40 years, Johan van Vloten, was legally required to retire by March 2009 when he turns 70.  He often took van Vloten to state functions, and said in a 2007 interview that “everybody’s getting used to it. 
"Prejudices and dislike will, ultimately, only recede,” Kirby said, “when gay people themselves break the spell of silence and stand up to be counted."




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