Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell (San Francisco, CA, April 25, 2011)—Today, King & Spalding LLP, the law firm hired earlier this month by the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, announced it is withdrawing its representation because the vetting process was “inadequate.” The move prompted the lead King & Spalding lawyer in the case, Paul Clement, to resign from his position at King & Spalding. Statement by NCLR...
Tag
marriage equality
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, April 14, 2011)—Today, the Delaware General Assembly passed a bill to establish a system of civil unions—available to both same-sex and different-sex couples—that grants partners in civil unions virtually all of the rights, benefits, and obligations granted to married couples in that state. Today’s 26 to 15 vote by the Delaware House of Representatives sends the bill to Governor Jack Markell, who has indicated he will...
Statement by NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter (San Francisco, CA, March 23, 2011)—Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the plaintiffs’ motion to lift the stay in the case challenging Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that stripped the freedom to marry from same-sex couples in California. That ruling means that the district’s court decision striking down Prop 8 remains on hold, and same-sex couples in California will be denied the right to marry while the litigation...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell (San Francisco, CA, March 16, 2011)—Today, members of Congress reintroduced the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill to repeal the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” or DOMA, the 1996 law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples and excludes same-sex couples from all marriage-based protections under federal law. Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Barney Frank (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin...
(San Francisco, CA, March 1, 2011)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and Lambda Legal jointly filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asking the court to lift the temporary stay in the federal court challenge to Proposition 8. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Prop 8 was unconstitutional in August 2010. However, that same month the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a...
Statement by NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter (San Francisco, CA, February 23, 2011)—President Barack Obama has decided that the government should no longer defend Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which discriminates against legally married same-sex couples by providing that the federal government will not recognize their marriages for any purpose, according to a statement released today by the Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General explained the...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell (San Francisco, CA, February 16, 2011)—Today, the California Supreme Court agreed to accept the question sent to it last month from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the federal court challenge to California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that stripped the freedom to marry from same-sex couples in the state. On January 4, 2011, the Ninth Circuit panel asked California’s highest court to clarify whether California law gives ballot...
Radio Soap Operas Will Air on Radio Bilingüe Stations Across California from February 11 through March 31 (Salinas, CA, February 3, 2011)—Proyecto Poderoso, the Family Acceptance Project, and Radio Bilingüe are proud to announce the on-air premiere of their radionovela series, a Spanish-language radio soap opera developed specifically to reach California’s Latino families with stories about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) acceptance and equality. The three-part...
The Spanish-language Radio Soap Operas to Air Across California on Radio Bilingüe Stations (Salinas, CA, January 18, 2011)—Proyecto Poderoso, the Family Acceptance Project and Radio Bilingüe are proud to announce the January 19, 2011 community premier of their radionovela series, a Spanish-language radio soap opera similar to those popular during the Golden Age of Radio and developed specifically to reach California’s Latino families with stories about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell (San Francisco, CA, January 18, 2011)—Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision by the District of Columbia’s highest court that an initiative taking away the right to marry from same-sex couples cannot go on the ballot. Today’s ruling puts an end to the legal battle to secure marriage equality in our nation’s capital. In December 2009, the D.C. Council passed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Act of...