same-sex marriage

The Indiana Senate has approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, Reuters reports. The amendment must now be approved again by legislators next legislative session and then go to voters in 2016. The good news is that the House, when passing the amendment, changed the wording so civil unions would not be barred.

The ACLU of Missouri has filed a lawsuit to challenge Missouri's ban on same-sex marriage, Missouri Digital News reports, and Missouri's governor says he supports the right of gays to marry as long as voters approve it. The plaintiffs argue the ban violates their due process and equal protection rights.

There have been more positive developments this week in favor of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights:

One, Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage was struck down, Christian Science Monitor reports. The ruling is the first in the south to overturn a voter-backed prohibition on same-sex matrimony as unconstitutional.

Two, the Associated Press reports that a federal judge ruled this week that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. The judge struck down the clause on recognizing out-of-state same-sex matrimony as imposing a traditional or faith-based limitation without a sufficient justification for it, the AP also reports.

Three, the Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama's same-sex marriage ban, the Washington Blade reports. The issue involves a same-sex couple in which one spouse was killed in a car accident and his widower is barred from receiving the majority of any settlement money in a wrongful death action. Opposite-sex spouses get that privilege in Alabama.

An Indiana Senate committee voted this week to send a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to the full legislative body, the Associated Press reports. House legislators stripped out a sentence that would ban civil unions, but the amendment's supporters want the sentence restored. If the sentence is restored, a public vote could happen this fall. If the sentence is not restored, then legislators would have to pass the amendment a second time in another legislative session before the measure could go to voters.

The cause of same-sex marriage and LGBT  rights advanced in several states around the country this week:

* The Idaho Supreme Court will now allow the adoption of a same-sex partner's children, The Washington Post's Eugene Volokh writes: "More broadly, the court concludes that such a second-parent adoption doesn’t require that the parties be married to each other, so that adoption of an opposite-sex partner’s (or even friend’s) children would be allowed as well, so long as the other requirements for adoption are met."

* Nevada has withdrawn its appeal to uphold that state's same-sex marriage ban, Bloomberg reports: "Nevada was defending a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages established by a voter-approved amendment. A federal judge in 2012 ruled that the state law didn’t violate the equal protection rights of eight same-sex couples that sued to overturn it. Yesterday, the state dropped its defense of the ban in the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco" due to the 9th Circuit's ruling that heightened constitutional scrutiny would not allow a gay man to be excluded from a trial involving an AIDS drug.

* Same-sex couples have filed a lawsuit to challenge Texas' same-sex marriage ban, Reuters reports.

* Same-sex couples have filed a lawsuit to challenge Ohio's ban on allowing both same-sex partners on children's birth certificates, the Associated Press reports. A similar Ohio lawsuit over death certificates had success, and the attorney prosecuting the cases says his tactics "will give the U.S. Supreme Court a wider variety of legal arguments to consider when appeals from various states reach their chambers."

Reuters reports on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement this weekend that the Justice Department is going to expand LGBT rights. This includes recognizing the right of same-sex spouses not to testify against each other, to visit each other in federal prison, in how some debts are handled in federal bankruptcy proceedings and in eligibility for death benefits for survivors of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

As Kansas "braces for the federal courts striking down Kansas' ban on gay marriage," a House legislative committee has passed a bill that would shield business owners from being forced to service same-sex weddings if that would be against their religious beliefs, the Associated Press reports. The bill would bar governmental sanctions and anti-discrimination lawsuits in those circumstances.

LGBT-rights advocates criticized the bill for allowing governmental workers to cite their religious beliefs in refusing to provide governmental services to gay couples, the AP further reports. The bill requires "agencies to seek a work-around - if it isn't an 'undue hardship,'" according to the AP.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore mailed letters this week to all 50 governors asking them to urge their legislatures to call for a national convention on amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, the Associated Press reports. The chief justice also is "known on the national stage for fighting to display the Ten Commandments in a judicial building," the AP reports. Moore told the AP it's the only way to "stop judges who are finding new rights to gay unions." Moore also said he was upholding Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage.

An Article V convention has never been held.

The Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of same-sex marriage, STV reports. Now Northern Ireland is the only country in the United Kingdom where same-sex couples can't access matrimony.

Utah has filed its brief in the 10th Circuit defending the state's ban on same-sex marriage after a district judge struck it down as unconstitutional, Deseret News reports. One argument by the state is that there is nothing in the federal Constitution preventing Utah's citizens from limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. A second argument by the state is "'redefining marriage as a genderless, adult-centric institution would fundamentally change Utah's child-centered meaning and purpose of marriage,'" the paper further reports. A third argument by the state is "that traditional marriage furthers the state's interests in accommodating religious freedom and preserving social harmony in the state, while redefining marriage would be a recipe for social and religious strife," the paper also reports.