Widow’s In-laws Seeking Control of Estate and Death Benefits (San Francisco, August 3, 2011)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights is representing Jennifer Tobits, the widow of Sarah Ellyn Farley, whose parents are challenging the couple’s marriage and seeking control of Farley’s estate and death benefits provided by her employer. This week, Tobits filed court documents seeking to be named the executor of her wife’s estate and defending her status as a surviving spouse. Tobits’s in-laws had...
Tag
marriage equality
Statement by NCLR Federal Policy Director, Maya Rupert, Esq. (Washington, D.C., July 20, 2011)—Today, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held the first-ever hearing on the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Committee members heard from several supporters of the repeal measure, including people who have been harmed because of the discriminatory law. The Respect for Marriage Act was introduced on March 16, 2011 by Sen. Dianne...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell (San Francisco, CA, July 3, 2011)—On July 1, 2011, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a brief supporting federal court employee Karen Golinski’s lawsuit in which she seeks access to equal health benefits for her wife. In the brief on behalf of the Office of Personnel Management and other government defendants, the DOJ unequivocally argues in Golinski’s favor that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional....
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, June 29, 2011)—Today, the Rhode Island legislature approved a bill that would permit same-sex couples to enter into civil unions in the state. Unlike similar legislation passed in other states, however, the Rhode Island bill creates a sweeping exemption that would permit individuals and organizations, such as hospitals, schools and adoption agencies, to completely disregard the validity of a civil union because of...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, June 24, 2011)—Today, the New York Senate passed a bill establishing full marriage equality for same-sex couples. When Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the bill into law, New York will become the seventh and largest jurisdiction in the country in which same-sex couples are able to legally marry. The New York Assembly passed the bill last week, marking the third time the Assembly passed marriage equality legislation. When signed...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, June 14, 2011)—Today, Chief Judge James Ware of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California resoundingly denied Proposition 8 supporters’ motion to invalidate former U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker’s landmark ruling striking down Proposition 8. After a three-week trial last year, Judge Walker ruled in a 135-page decision that Prop 8, the 2008 amendment to the California Constitution...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, June 13, 2011)—Today, Chief Judge James Ware of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California heard arguments on a motion to invalidate former U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker’s landmark ruling striking down Proposition 8. After a three-week trial last year, Judge Walker ruled in a 135-page decision that Prop 8, the 2008 amendment to the California Constitution that stripped the right to...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, May 23, 2011)—On May 21, 2011, the Minnesota House passed a proposal to put a constitutional amendment excluding same-sex couples from marriage on the state’s 2012 ballot, following Senate approval the previous week Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell: “In a stunning betrayal of the promises that got them elected, Republicans in the Minnesota House voted late Saturday to place on the November 2012...
Groups call Prop 8 Supporters’ Assault on Impartiality of Gay and Lesbian Judges “Offensive” (San Francisco, CA, May 13, 2011)—A coalition of groups that advocate for the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people today filed a brief urging the U.S. District Court not to vacate last year’s historic ruling invalidating Proposition 8. Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ACLU of Northern California and Equality California filed the...
Groups Argue that Proposition 8 Sponsors Do Not Speak for the State (San Francisco, CA, May 4, 2011)—Yesterday, Equality California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the court brief with the California Supreme Court arguing that the proponents of Proposition 8 have no power to override the decision of elected state officials about whether to appeal a federal court decision that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. The brief explains that initiative proponents...