LGBT rights

The Washington Post reports that a lawsuit in Virginia challenging that state's ban on same-sex marriage might get to the U.S. Supreme Court before a case over Utah's same-sex marriage ban does. Oral arguments were just heard in the Virginia case, while a district court judge struck down Utah's ban already. That ruling is on appeal.

Even though the Utah case has advanced farther, "the Virginia cases are moving quickly, and some lawyers are hopeful they emerge through the appeals process as favored vehicles for an ultimate decision by the Supreme Court," The Post further reports.

Separately, a class action to challenge Virginia's ban on same-sex matrimony just got approval to proceed.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit today to challenge that state's ban on same-sex marriage on the grounds that it violates same-sex couples their right to equal protection under the law, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. "'Lesbians and gay men in Wisconsin are denied the freedom afforded to different-sex couples in this state to have their loving, committed relationships recognized through marriage,'" the parties' complaint argues.
 

The Mexican Supreme Court has upheld equal public benefits for same-sex couples, according to a report on BuzzFeed: The court "ruled Wednesday that the ministry overseesing pensions and health benefits — the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social — must give same-sex couples who are married or registered under state civil union laws all the same benefits of opposite-sex couples. The ruling specifically addressed the question of whether someone whose spouse dies is entitled to survivor’s benefits under Mexico’s Social Security law, which includes pensions and access to medical services."

The litigation over same-sex marriage equality continues to burgeon in the United States. Most recently, a federal judge certified a class action to challenge Virginia's eight-year-old ban on same-sex marriage. The Associated Press reports that U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski certified the class action Friday. The Virginia Attorney General already said he won't defend the ban in court. The class of couples could be around 15,000, according to the AP.

The New Yorker had a blog earlier this week that, while the Supreme Court decision striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act was meant to give breathing room to states to figure out the issue of same-sex nuptials themselves, "the language of the Windsor decision may have been so powerful that the Court in fact accelerated a movement it sought to temporarily restrain."  The blog also has this quote from Roberta Kaplan, the attorney who argued the Windsor case in the Supreme Court, explaining "how the ruling had led to results beyond what the court may have intended originally. 'It’s not the holding in Windsor that is so controlling right now. It’s the logic and reasoning behind the court’s decision—namely, that gay people deserve the same legal rights and protections as everyone else.”' 

Two courts rulings regarding same-sex marriage have been issued. A state judge ruled that the law authorizing same-sex marriage in Hawaii is constitutional, BigIslandNow.com reports. A federal judge has authorized a challenge to West Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage to go forward, The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, WV, reports. The federal judge did strike down a claim involving out-of-state-marriages because "unmarried couples, with no stated desire to marry in another state, lack standing to challenge West Virginia's non-recognition of out-of-state marriages."

The Lawrence Journal-World reports to repeal Kansas' ban on same-sex marriage have been accepted by a legislative committee. Kansas also is considering a bill to "provide legal protection to people who, because of religious opposition to gay marriage, would deny business and services to same-sex couples," the newspaper reports.

The Indiana House approved putting a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage before voters, The Guardian reports. Now the measure has to be considered in the Senate. However, the proposed amendment was modified to remove language that would have banned civil unions and same-sex couples receiving benefits from their employers. Senators are expected to try to restore the language, The Guardian further reports.

At least three Republican legislators in Indiana have proposed a change to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that is pending in the House, Gannett's Palladium-Item reports. The change would strike a sentence that would ban civil unions for same-sex couples. The change would mean the measure would have to be approved a second time by the General Assembly before going to voters.

The Indianpolis Star is reporting that more than one-third of the Indiana House members who voted for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2011 now won't repeat their votes "or are wavering." "Those statistics reveal how far the debate over gay marriage has shifted in a state where only three years ago, House representatives overwhelmingly approved the ban 70 to 26," The Star concludes.