Tag Archives: lawsuits

Via press release from the NCLR: On March 5, 2014, four same-sex couples and Wyoming Equality filed a lawsuit in state court in Cheyenne challenging Wyoming’s laws that prohibit same-sex couples from marrying and refuse to respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples who married in other states. The couples include a university professor, a Major in the Army Reserve, …

Via Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed: Several prominent Western-state conservatives and Republicans — led by former Sen. Alan Simpson — urged the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday to strike down bans on same-sex couples’ marriages in Utah and Oklahoma. Modeled after the briefing at the Supreme Court last year, the brief filed Tuesday aims to convince the court that the …

Regnerus returned to the witness stand about an hour ago. Follow along with reporter Amy Lange’s excellent live-tweeting.

The University of Texas at Austin yesterday published a statement denouncing their own employee, Mark Regnerus, who is presently testifying against same-sex marriage in Michigan. Like all faculty, Dr. Regnerus has the right to pursue his areas of research and express his point of view. However, Dr. Regnerus’ opinions are his own. They do not reflect the views of the …

Oral arguments begin Thursday in the American Atheists lawsuit to have the so-called WTC Cross removed from government property in downtown Manhattan. Via the Christian Post: Two days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, construction workers found a cross beam among the wreckage of the Twin Towers. Measuring 17 feet tall and approximately 4,000 pounds, the piece of debris …

A California jury has awarded $5.4M to a woman who reported that she was sexually assaulted by a male employee of the West Hollywood gay nightclub Here Lounge. The 43-year-old woman sued the Here Lounge and club worker Victor Cruz, alleging she was assaulted and raped by him on March 23, 2009. After a 15-day trial in Santa Monica Superior …

A local reporter is live-tweeting from the courthouse. It’s not yet clear if the judge has ruled that Regnerus is an “expert witness” and if this is his official testimony. Hit the link and follow along. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher) UPDATE: The reporter just tweeted that Regnerus has been accepted as an expert witness.

The Associated Press reports: The state of Michigan’s defense of a ban on gay marriage is off to a rocky start after a judge refused to allow the first witness to testify. Sherif Girgis is a law student at Yale University and a doctoral candidate at Princeton University. He has written and talked about a historical defense of marriage between …

Via press release: The OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (OutServe-SLDN) and the American Military Partner Association (AMPA) today jointly filed a friend of the court brief [Amicus Brief] with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in the cases of Kitchen v. Herbert, decided by a federal district court in Utah, and Bishop v. Smith, decided by a federal …

The ACLU today asked a federal judge for an injunction against Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage while their lawsuit is being heard. The organization filed a motion on Thursday with U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, seeking a preliminary injunction that would essentially invalidate the ban until the lawsuit is decided. In a brief accompanying the motion, the ACLU argued it’s …

Hate group leader Scott Lively appeared on NPR yesterday to defend his campaign against LGBT people around the world. An excerpt: MARTIN: Well, you know, this law, though, has been denounced by the United Nations, by U.S. officials, including the Secretary of State and the president. A number of European nations have said that they’re suspending aid to the country …

The map reflects this week’s changes in Texas and Kentucky. Note that a second county in Illinois has begun issuing marriage licenses ahead of the official statewide date of June 1st. Source.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: Kentucky must now recognize same sex marriages performed in states where it is legal. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn today made final a ruling issued earlier this month in which he found that Kentucky’s marriage amendment and statutes violate of the right to equal protection under the law. “Those laws … are void and unenforceable,” …

Here’s a very important bit of news we missed amidst all of yesterday’s hoopla. A federal judge said Wednesday afternoon that he would issue a final order within 24 hours requiring Kentucky to immediately recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the state. In response, lawyers for the attorney general’s office told U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II at a hearing …

Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: The fight to win marriage equality across the nation has in recent months become nearly as much a fight about which lawyers and organizations will get to be the ones making the arguments before the Supreme Court — and taking credit for a win. Now, that fight is breaking out into the open. On Wednesday, …

Last month six Florida gay couples filed a lawsuit against that state’s Amendment 2, the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage approved by voters in 2008.  Yesterday the Liberty Counsel, which authored Amendment 2, filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. Via press release: Mathew and Anita Staver, Liberty Counsel’s Chairman and President, respectively, drafted Amendment 2 and successfully defended …

“This is an issue on which there are good, well-meaning people on both sides. And, as the lower court acknowledged today, it’s an issue that will ultimately be resolved by a higher court. Texas will begin that process by appealing today’s ruling to the Fifth Circuit. Because the judge has stayed his own decision, his ruling has no immediate practical …

Multiple Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Weeds star Elizabeth Perkins tweeted me this afternoon to announce her donation to the Center For Constitutional Rights, which is suing Scott Lively on the behalf of Ugandan LGBT activists. Donations go to funding subpoenas, paying for expert witnesses, and for airfare to the United States for Ugandans to testify against Lively.  Longtime JMG readers …

Via the San Antonio Express-News: A federal judge in San Antonio has declared Texas’ ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, however, also issued a stay, meaning the ban stays in effect for the time being. One lesbian couple had to go to Massachusetts to get married, and they want Texas to recognize the union. A second …

Via press release from the National Center for Lesbian Rights: Late Tuesday, attorneys for three couples challenging Utah’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples filed a brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, urging the court to uphold a lower court’s December 2013 decision finding the ban unconstitutional. On December 20, 2013, U.S. District Court …