(San Francisco, CA, May 26, 2009)—Today, in a 6 to 1 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the ballot measure that eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry. At the same time, the court unanimously ruled that the more than 18,000 marriages that took place between June 16 and November 4, 2008 continue to be fully valid and recognized by the state of California. The decision reaffirmed the Court’s prior holding that sexual orientation is subject to the highest...
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marriage equality
(San Francisco, CA, May 26, 2009)—Today, following the ruling of the California Supreme Court in Strauss v. Horton, the LGBTQ community’s challenge to Proposition 8 brought by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal and the ACLU, lead petitioners Karen Strauss and Ruth Borenstein released the following statement: Karen Strauss: “I would give anything to be in different circumstances that would allow me to be with you today. Instead, I am at my mother’s bedside in Florida. Her poor...
A Statement from NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter (San Francisco, CA, May 6, 2009)—Today, John Baldacci, Governor of Maine, signed a law that ended the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in Maine. The bill sailed through the state’s Senate and House of Representatives with overwhelming support, and made Maine the fifth state to provide full legal equality to same-sex couples. A statement from Shannon Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights: “We commend...
A Statement from NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter (San Francisco, CA, April 7, 2009)—The Vermont legislature today overrode a veto by the governor and passed a bill to eliminate the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, thereby making Vermont the first state to do so prior to a court decision requiring full marriage equality. A statement from Shannon Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights: “We are thrilled that the Vermont Legislature has taken decisive...
On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down the 1998 state ban on marriage for same-sex couples. The case was brought by Lambda Legal on behalf of six same-sex couples. NCLR submitted an amicus brief with co-counsel McGuire Woods LLP and Joseph Barron, Esq. on behalf of several professors of family law in support of the couples, addressing the use of social science research in constitutional cases. This is the fourth state supreme court to rule that same-sex couples must...
A Statement from NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter (San Francisco, CA, April 3, 2009)—“Today, the Iowa Supreme Court recognized that the constitutional guarantee of equal protection requires that same- sex couples have ‘full access to the institution of civil marriage.’ The ruling makes clear that civil unions or domestic partnerships cannot meet the demands of full constitutional equality. “We hope the California Supreme Court will uphold the essential principle of equality regardless of...
Attorney General, Governor, and nation’s top civil rights groups agree: Invalidate Prop 8 (San Francisco, CA, February 3, 2009)—The California Supreme Court announced today that it will hear oral arguments on Thursday, March 5, 2009 in the Proposition 8 legal challenge. The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU—with support from civil rights groups, religious organizations, labor unions, and legal scholars—argue that Proposition 8 is invalid because the people of...
A group of Colombian human rights and LGBTQ organizations challenged their country’s marriage laws that excluded same-sex couples under the Colombia Constitution’s equal protection provision. NCLR filed an amicus brief along with the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Center for Health, Science and Public Policy at Brooklyn Law School, and the Center for the Study of Law & Culture at Columbia Law School. The Colombia Constitutional Court ruled on January...
Nation’s top civil rights groups and legal scholars agree: Invalidate Prop 8 (San Francisco, CA, January 21, 2009)—In the last round of an expedited briefing schedule, final briefs were filed today by both petitioners and respondents in the lawsuits challenging Proposition 8. The briefs filed today by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU responded to the more than 60 amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” briefs filed in the case last week. Those amicus briefs...
Brief filed in response to Court’s invitation after it deferred action on Nov. petition (Los Angeles, CA, January 15, 2009)—Civil rights groups today filed an amicus brief with the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8 because it would mandate discrimination against a minority group and did not follow the process required for fundamental revisions to the California Constitution. In the amicus brief, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Mexican American Legal Defense and...