news & opinion
Statement
Massachusetts Files Suit Challenging Anti-Gay Federal Law Denying Protections to Married Same-sex Couples and Their Children
A Statement from NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell
07.09.09—Yesterday, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed suit against the federal government challenging the constitutionality of the anti-gay federal so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA). The suit targets DOMA Section 3, the section that denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples, charging that Congress overstepped its authority in enacting the measure. The Commonwealth argues in the case that DOMA undermines states’ efforts to recognize marriages and represents the codification of an impermissible “animus towards gay and lesbian people.”
Opinion
Under Pressure
NCLR's Blog: Out for Justice
07.09.09—We all know that the President has a lot on his plate—some very weighty issues, and many of his priorities we support wholeheartedly—but LGBT equality cannot wait to be the dessert course on even the most carefully planned four or eight-year presidential menu.
Press Release
LGBT Community Groups Seek to Intervene in Federal Challenge to Proposition 8
Motion filed in response to judge’s call for information to resolve ‘factual disputes’
07.08.09—Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to allow Our Family Coalition, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays to intervene in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a federal lawsuit challenging California’s Proposition 8. In an order issued June 30 and confirmed at a hearing on July 1, Judge Vaughn R. Walker granted a motion to intervene by supporters of Proposition 8, and declined to rule on a request by plaintiffs for an immediate injunction staying the marriage ban. He called instead for a trial to resolve a number of critically important factual questions about LGBT people and constitutional rights including questions about same-sex couples as parents, whether Proposition 8 was passed with discriminatory intent, and whether allowing same-sex couples to marry undermines the stability of heterosexual marriages.
read the motion to intervene (pdf)
read the Appel declaration in support of the motion to intervene (pdf)
read the Ashbrook declaration in support of the motion to intervene (pdf)
read the Gill declaration in support of the motion to intervene (pdf)
read the Huckaby declaration in support of the motion to intervene (pdf)
case updates and program highlights
Program Highlight
Elder Law Project
Planning with Purpose: Legal Basics for LGBT Elders—This guide provides basic information about select areas of the law that are important to LGBT elders, especially individuals and couples who are age 55 and over, based on NCLR’s experience advocating for LGBT elders. Written for LGBT elders and their families and caregivers, it includes information about issues related to relationship recognition, finances, health care, long term care, planning for the care of minor or disabled children, inheritance, elder abuse, and discrimination against LGBT elders. Planning with Purpose covers many of areas where rights, benefits, and protections are generally provided to heterosexual people based on spousal status, but are denied to same-sex couples, even if married or in other legal unions. Where there are particular considerations for transgender people, this guide notes them. Throughout, this publication recommends securing competent legal counsel with experience in LGBT and elder law issues, and emphasizes that advance planning is key.
Partial Loss (California)
Strauss v. Horton (Prop 8 Legal Challenge)
On May 26, 2009, in a 6-1 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the ballot measure that eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry. At the same time, all of the 7 justices ruled that the more than 18,000 marriages that took place between June 16 and November 4, 2008 continue to be fully valid and recognized by the state of California. All of the 7 justices also affirmed the Court’s prior holding that sexual orientation is subject to the highest level of protection under the California Constitution.
Victory! (California)
California Education Committee, LLC, et al. v. Jack O’Connell et al.
In November 2007, anti-LGBT organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court, challenging California’s safe schools laws that, among other things, protect students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. NCLR clients Equality California and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network got involved in the case in order to defend and protect the anti-discrimination laws.
Over the past 30 years the National Center for Lesbian Rights has been at the forefront of nearly every legal gain won for LGBT people and families.
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Do you have legal questions related to your sexual orientation or gender identity?
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