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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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National News |
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| National News | |
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by Rex Wockner -
SGN Contributing Writer New England activists sue to overturn part of DOMA The New England legal group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders filed a lawsuit March 2 seeking to overturn portions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that prohibit the federal government from recognizing married same-sex couples. The case likely will end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. GLAD represents eight married couples and three widowers, including Dean Hara, widower of former U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., who was Congress' first openly Gay member. The federal government refused to give Hara survivor benefits through Studds' federal pension. As a result, Hara spends about $7,000 a year to buy health insurance. According to the Boston Gay newspaper Bay Windows, the suit only targets sections of DOMA that block same-sex married couples from receiving equal treatment in taxes, federal employee spousal and survivor benefits, Social Security, issuance of passports and name changes. But GLAD's Janson Wu said that if the case is successful, it likely would bring the rest of DOMA into question as well. According to the Government Accountability Office, there are more than 1,100 federal statutory provisions that confer rights or benefits based on marital status. DOMA, signed into law in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, reads, in part: "No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship. In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife." Hara told Bay Windows he's not thrilled about becoming a public figure again, as he was when Studds was a congressman. "It's a very big decision for me because I know, having seen what Gerry lived through, I have to be aware of the good and the bad," he said. "I have thought about it a lot, and I keep coming back that as a man I grew up believing that a man stood up for what he believed in, an American stands up for what they believe in and try to make this country better. ... Every way I looked at it I could not justify not doing something and sitting back and taking the easy way out." Frank Kameny's house made a historical site Veteran Gay activist Frank Kameny's house has been made a District of Columbia Historic Landmark for its role as an epicenter of the early Gay rights movement, the Washington Post reported February 27. The Historic Preservation Review Board dubbed Kameny, 83, "the father of Gay activism." Among his long list of accomplishments, Kameny brought the first U.S. Gay rights court case after being fired by the Army Map Service in 1957. He also fought against sodomy laws, helped end the American Psychiatric Association's categorization of homosexuality as a mental illness, and was the first openly gay person to run for Congress. Some of Kameny's papers are part of the Library of Congress and some of his activist paraphernalia are on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. California Legislature comes out against Prop 8 The California Senate and Assembly passed resolutions March 2 opposing Proposition 8 as an illegal revision of the state constitution. The initiative, placed on the ballot by anti-Gay activists who collected voter signatures, was presented as just a constitutional amendment, but the Legislature says it was in fact a "revision." Only the Legislature or a constitutional convention can initiate the process of revising the constitution. By taking away the fundamental freedom to marry from one specific group, Prop 8 altered the very intent of the constitution, which is to treat all people equally under the law, legislators said. The Assembly resolution passed 44-27 and the Senate version passed 18-14. "This is the first time in our state's history that the initiative process has been used to take away a fundamental freedom from one particular group," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. "Our legislators understand this is an unequivocal change to our state's constitution." State Sen. Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced the Senate resolution, said: "Both houses of the Legislature recognize that Proposition 8 undermines the fundamental principle of equal protection guaranteed by the California Constitution. ... If Proposition 8 stands, we would be setting a dangerous precedent in California that allows a majority of the people to deny equal protection under the law to a minority of Californians." Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced the House resolution, stated: "Our state guarantees a system of checks and balances to prevent discrimination like Prop 8. Prop 8 flouts that system as it alters the very nature of our constitution and bypasses the constitutionally assigned duty of the Legislature to begin the process of making fundamental revisions." The California Supreme Court heard arguments in the case against Prop 8 on March 5. It must issue a decision by early June. With assistance from Bill Kelley |
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| pictures - top: Frank Kameny below:Geoff Kors bottom:March 4 Prop 8 demonstration | |
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