same-sex marriage

The Associated Press reports on a new lawsuit in Texas federal court challenging that state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. They want a court-ordered injunction against the enforcement of state law. The plaintiffs argue that the ban on same-sex marriage cannot even survive the lowest level of constitutional scrutiny: whether the government has a rational basis for the ban.

The Roanoke Times has this profile on Timothy Bostic and Tony London, who are suing to challenge Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. They told the newspaper they decided to challenge the ban because they want to get married in the state in which they live: "When other states began changing their marriage laws, London and Bostic briefly considered getting married out of state. 'We did discuss it, but why would we go to Iowa to get married and come home and not be married?' Bostic said," The Roanoke Times further reported.

Their lawyers attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies, who successfully litigated California’s Proposition 8 case.

In 2009, the Montana Supreme Court rejected a civil liberties lawsuit seeking full marital rights for same-sex couples as too broad and without enough specificity on discrimination laws, the Billings Gazette reports. Now the ACLU has filed a lawsuit which "cites specific statutes that prevent gay couples from receiving equal rights and protections medically, financially and over crucial end-of-life decisions," the Billings Gazette also reports.

A lawsuit in Texas is challenging that state's ban on same-sex marriage, according to Lez Get Real. Along with the many other lawsuits in the country challenging state-level Defense of Marriage Acts or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, the couples in this lawsuit also argue that their equal-protection and due-process rights are being violated by being barred from matrimony.

The West Virginia Attorney General is seeking to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging West Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage in order to defend the constitutionality of the state law, The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, West Virginia, reports. The plaintiffs allege that their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process are being violated by the ban.

Four same-sex couples are seeking a preliminary injunction against Tennessee's ban on same-sex marriage and recognizing same-sex unions from other states, according to the Associated Press. The couples argue the ban violates their constitutinal rights to due process and equal protection, the AP also reported.

Illinois has become the 16th state in the country--and the largest state in America's heartland-- to authorize same-sex matrimoney, according to the Associated Press. Governor Pat Quinn signed the legislation on a desk once used by President Abraham Lincoln and at a ceremony attended by an estimated 2,300, the AP reported. The law goes into effect June 1.

The Associated Press reports on an effort in Indiana to amend the state constitution to bar same-sex marriage, including blocking any future efforts to change the constitution to permit same-sex marriage. The AP reports: "The proposed amendment, if passed, would restrict marriage to being between a man and woman. But it would also further restrict the rights of same-sex couples and ban lawmakers from reconsidering the issue in the future. Those additional restrictions, which are in the second sentence of the proposed amendment, have drawn increasing concern from lawmakers."

BuzzFeed has a profile of Mary Bonauto, a lawyer without whom marriage equality might never have happened.

Here's why, according to BuzzFeed: "The lawyer brought marriage equality cases in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. She argued the case to the justices in Massachusetts who brought marriage equality to the United States. She won the first decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act’s federal definition of marriage, and the first appellate decision too — a ruling that forced the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. If there’s been a big moment in marriage equality’s long march to reality, Bonauto was probably there.And it’s no secret either: The movement’s other leading lawyers openly credit Bonauto for making the success possible."

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has ordered the state to recognize joint tax returns from same-sex couples who married in other states, according to the Associated Press. Missouri's tax code is tied to federal tax code, which now requires same-sex couples to file taxes together. 

"PROMO, a statewide organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, said Missouri is the lone state to let same-sex couples file jointly as married while not recognizing same-sex marriages," the AP reports.