Marriage Equality

Australia’s News Corp outlet reports: Malcolm Turnbull today cleared the way for a Liberal bill legalising same-sex marriage by endorsing the right of back benchers to offer their own legislation. The Prime Minister moved from a strict insistence that Coalition policy was to hold a plebiscite on the Marriage Act change before any legislation entered Parliament. An increasing number of …

Bloomberg reports: Germany’s president has signed legislation legalizing gay marriage, his office said Friday, paving the way for the bill to take effect this fall. Lawmakers approved the bill on June 30 in parliament’s last session before Germany’s September election. The move became possible after Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservative party had long been reluctant to budge on the issue, …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: A new bill led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the U.S. Senate would make gay couples potentially eligible for a refund on their back taxes if they married more than three years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. The legislation, called the Refund Equality Act, …

Reuters reports: Maltese lawmakers voted on Wednesday to legalize same-sex marriage on the Roman Catholic Mediterranean island, fulfilling Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s campaign promise to make this the first law brought before parliament in his new term. Malta was the 24th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage with today’s vote coming just two weeks after German lawmakers approved …

The Australian reports: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has poured cold water on a Liberal backbencher’s move to present a private member’s bill to allow a conscience vote on same-sex marriage. “The government’s policy is very clear: we support a plebiscite where all Australians would be given a vote on the matter and that remains our policy,” he told reporters in …

Deutsche Welle reports: A vote was not necessary in the upper house of Germany’s parliament, the Bundesrat, on Friday, because no state challenged the draft legislation. The original proposal for the law – and a large part of the initial pressure on Angela Merkel’s government to act – had come from the Bundesrat, where “marriage for all” (“Ehe für alle”) …

Mark Joseph Stern writes at Slate: What happens if Kennedy is replaced by a Gorsuch-style conservative? At that point, Roberts would be free to rewrite Windsor and Obergefell however he wants. Roberts could remain faithful to the original text of both decisions. He could also reverse them. But the likeliest possibility is that Roberts first cuts them down to a …

The Independent reports: Parliament this evening approved the second reading of the bill introducing gay marriage, with one Nationalist MP, Edwin Vassallo, voting against. The committee stage, as announced this evening by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, will take place on Thursday and Friday with a final vote on the third reading to be taken on Wednesday 12 July. The Bill, …

Germany’s The Local reports: Bundestag Vice President Johannes Singhammer of Angela Merkel’s Bavarian sister party the CSU told Die Welt on Monday that his state’s government should bring the matter of same-sex marriage to the Constitutional Court. “In order to achieve legal clarity, I suggest that the Constitutional Court should be called upon,” Singhammer said. He added that individual citizens …

Politico Europe reports: Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is looking to stop gay marriage in court, the far-right party’s vice chair Alexander Gauland told the country’s largest circulation newspaper. “We are currently studying a challenge at the constitutional court,” Gauland said in an interview with Bild Zeitung, days after parliament legalized same-sex marriage. AfD’s internet site features on its front …

The Belfast Telegraph reports: Thousands of people have joined a major parade through Belfast city centre demanding same-sex marriage rights. The demonstration on Saturday afternoon concluded with a rally in front of City Hall. The ban on equal marriage in Northern Ireland is one of several sticking points delaying the formation of a new powersharing government at Stormont. It is …

The Austin Statesman reports: A unanimous Texas Supreme Court concluded Friday that there is no inherent right to government-provided spousal benefits in same-sex marriages. The 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established the right to same-sex marriage did not decide all marriage-related matters, leaving room for state courts to explore the decision’s “reach and ramifications,” the Texas court said. Supporters …

Deutsche Welle reports: The German parliament, or Bundestag, on Friday passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriages in a snap vote that made it onto the agenda before the summer break after a surprise shift by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The bill passed by 393 to 226, with four abstentions. Merkel herself voted against the bill, although it was comments from her …

Germany’s Bundestag is about to vote on same-sex marriage. The first vote this morning will be to put the issue on the day’s agenda and the second vote is expected to follow within the hour. Watch below. Here’s how this came about so quickly: The way was paved for a vote on Monday night when Merkel said she wanted the …

Germany’s The Local reports: “The interior and justice ministries have always been of the opinion that same-sex marriage can’t happen without a change to the constitution,” Günter Krings [photo] told the Rheinische Post on Wednesday. “There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the proposed change to the law will contravene the constitutional definition of marriage.” The Grundgesetz (German …

Raleigh’s NBC affiliate reports: A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to a North Carolina law that allows magistrates to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Wednesday that three couples who sued to overturn the law lack standing to challenge the law’s use of taxpayer funds. Two gay couples …

The Associated Press reports: The German Parliament plans to vote Friday on whether to legalize same-sex marriage — only days after Chancellor Angela Merkel backed off her conservative party’s long-standing refusal to budge on the issue. The German news agency dpa reported Wednesday the Parliament’s legal committee had given its OK for the vote to take place Friday. Her comment …

CNN reports: German lawmakers will decide Friday whether to legalize same-sex marriage, according to CNN affiliate NTV. The snap vote comes after Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that she would like to see parliament move towards a “vote of conscience” on the issue. Following Merkel’s comments, German politicians writing on Twitter called for a vote to be held as soon …

The Guardian reports: Angela Merkel has signaled a change in her party’s opposition to gay marriage after stating MPs should be allowed a free vote in the German parliament. Speaking at an event organised by women’s magazine Brigitte, the German chancellor said she felt aggrieved that the gay marriage debate was mainly carried out along party lines and that she …

The Washington Examiner reports: Support for gay marriage among U.S. adults hit 62 percent in June, the highest level ever recorded, according to a Pew Research poll released Monday. The June 8-18 survey found just under one-third of Americans do not support same-sex marriage, further increasing the gap between advocates and opponents. Pew, who has been tracking Americans’ opinions on …