Legal Challenge to DOMA Kicks Off in Boston Fedral Court

As LGBT Americans await a ruling in the federal challenge to California's Prop 8 (due in June), another court case has begun in Boston that challenges the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

OnTopMagazine reports:

The Boston-based gay rights group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), the gay rights advocacy group at the center of the gay marriage debate in New England, is representing seven gay married couples and three surviving spouses from Massachusetts who have been denied federal benefits because of the 1996 law that defines marriage as a heterosexual union for federal agencies.

GLAD lawyer Mary L. Bonauto called the law an unconstitutional intrusion on a matter previously left to states.

“All the federal government has ever cared about is that the person is married at the state level,” she argued before US District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro. “For the first time ever, DOMA departed from that.”

Bonauto asked Tauro to rule in the group's favor without a trial.

Lawyers representing the government said that while the Obama Administration supports repeal of the law, the Department of Defense has a responsibility to defend the laws enacted by Congress, and asked for the suit to be dismissed.

“This presidential administration disagrees with DOMA as a matter of policy,” W. Scott Simpson, a DOD lawyer argued. “But that does not affect its constitutionality.”

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Portugal allows gays to marry, but not adopt

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On Friday the Portuguese parliament passed legislation granting same-sex couple the right to marry, but stopped short of allowing gays and lesbians to adopt. While we applaud Portugal's move into the 21st century, the adoption ban flies in the face of the argument anti-gay forces have presented for years, that marriage is for having kids and raising a family.

Reuters reports:
LISBON (Reuters) - The Portuguese parliament on Friday passed the Socialist government's bill to legalise same-sex marriages, which Prime Minister Jose Socrates said was an historic step in the country's fight against discrimination.

Socrates' minority government pushed the bill through the house with support from left wing parties, while alternative proposals by the centre-right opposition for civil partnerships and a referendum on the issue were rejected.

"It is a small change in the law, but a very important and symbolic step to fully realise values that are pillars of open, tolerant and democratic societies; freedom, equality and non-discrimination," Socrates told parliament ahead of the vote.

The bill gives gay marriages the same rights as heterosexual marriages, including those on taxes, inheritance and housing, but does not offer them the right to adopt children.

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Argentine Gay Couple Marries in Tierra del Fuego

In an historic first, Alex Freyre and Jose Marie di Bello became Latin America's first same-sex married couple on Monday. The couple had hoped to marry in Buenos Aires on December 1st, World AIDS day, under the recently expanded civil unions statute, but the ceremony had been blocked by a court order. Both men are HIV positive.

The couple wed in a civil ceremony in the seaside resort town of Ushuaia in the Tierra del Fuego province because Governor Fabiana Rios, an advocate for same-sex marriage, over-ruled the court order that blocked the couple's previous attempt to marry in Buenos Aires.

Freyre said in a statement to Todos Noticias, "It is a dream come true for us. We are completely moved, and so happy for what this means for all gays and lesbians in Argentina."

Springsteen Backs Gay Marriage Rights

The Boss, a native Jersey Boy, posted the following on his web site, brucespringsteen.net:

A BRIEF STATEMENT FROM BRUCE
Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I've been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, "The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law." I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.

NJ Lawmakers Vote 7 - 6 to send Same-sex Marriage Bill to Senate (video)

The New Jersey senate judiciary committee voted late last night to send the its marriage equality to the state senate for a vote that is expected to take place on Thursday. Over 1000 people from both sides of the issue packed the state house on Monday in an effort to sway lawmakers. Marriage equality advocates erupted in cheers after the 10:06 pm vote.

From NJ.com:
"During the marathon hearing, opponents — including Orthodox Jews and Catholic officials — argued that same-sex marriage would damage religious freedom and is not needed because the state already permits civil unions. Supporters -- including civil rights leaders and legal experts -- said gay couples do not have equal rights without being allowed to marry."

The judiciary committee heard testimony from hundreds on the issue, including NAACP chairman Julian Bond, who traveled from Washington, DC. Bond told the committee, "Like race, our sexuality isn’t a preference It’s immutable, unchangeable and the Constitution protects us all from discrimination."

Read more at NJ.com. Following are video highlights from the hearing.

Senate committee hears emotional testimony on same-sex marriage bill

Poll: 92% of Iowans say gay marriage doesn't effect them

(From the Huffington Post)
"One of the most common arguments against marriage equality is that the legalization of gay marriage threatens the institution of traditional marriage. But a recent poll conducted by the Des Moines Register finds that 92% of Iowans believe that "gay marriage has brought no real change to their lives." The study comes just months after the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous decision to overturn a 10-year-old ban on same-sex marriage.

The poll finds that Iowans are evenly split in their attitudes toward same-sex marriage."

2010 Census Will Report Data on Gay Couples -- Really?

In a departure from the Bush administrations policies, the 2010 US Census, under pressure from Barack Obama will report the status of same-sex couples, sort of.

The Bush administration had said that the Defense of Marriage Act prevented them from reporting the status of same-sex couples in the 2000 census.

Nine years and one historic election later, those clever folks in the Obama Administration have found a way to dole out another feel-good morsel to the gay community while not actually having to do anything.

During the initial phases of the census report next year, Gay and lesbian couples who are legally married in states where it is allowed, will have their marital status "recoded" to say "unmarried couple". Then, in late 2011, when most of America has forgotten that there even was a census in 2010, the government will release the "raw data".

The 2011 report will show the answers you actually gave to the census taker that you invited into your home. The home you pay taxes on. The home you and your spouse have worked hard to make a life together in. The home you raise, or hope to raise, your family in. You know, the one where you answered truthfully about your marital status in the first place?

So let's recap.

During the worst economic crisis in 80 years, the Obama Administration is spending millions of dollars to pay for software and government geeks that will change the truthful answers that married gay couples give to census takers to a more acceptable but dishonest answer, only to go back a year later and release your real answers after the reporting process is over, in order to comply with a law that the president has promised to over-turn.

Why are gay rights activists celebrating this?

Preachers go Nuts as DC Votes to Recognize Marriages From Other States

(The Washington Post) The D.C. Council overwhelmingly approved a bill yesterday to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, in a vote that followed a sharp exchange between an openly gay member and a civil rights champion and set off shouts of reproach from local ministers.

The council passed the measure by a vote of 12 to 1. During the debate, council member David A. Catania (I-At Large) accused Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who cast the dissenting vote, of having taken a "bigoted" position.

After the vote, enraged African American ministers stormed the hallway outside the council chambers and vowed that they will work to oust the members who supported the bill, which was sponsored by Phil Mendelson (D-At Large). They caused such an uproar that security officers and D.C. police were called in to clear the hallway.

Yesterday's action could be a precursor to a debate later this year over whether to legalize same-sex marriage in the city. "There is no turning back," said Catania, who plans to introduce a broader gay marriage bill in a few months.