LGBT rights

After a committee in the Hawaii Senate passed a same-sex marriage, "SB 1 now awaits a vote in the full Senate, where it is expected to pass comfortably. It will then be heard by the House Judiciary and Finance committees Thursday morning, where its fate is less certain," The Huffingon Post reported.

After Missouri State Trooper Dennis Engelhard was killed while investigating a traffic accident, his same-sex partner sought survivor benefits. Missouri pays benefits to the surivors of highway patrol officers killed in the line of duty, the Associated Press reported. The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that because the couple were not married that no benefits are owed, according to the AP.

While Missouri prohibits same-sex marriage in its state constitution and a state law, “the result cannot be any different here simply because [Kelly] Glossip and the patrolman were of the same sex. The statute discriminates solely on the basis of marital status, not sexual orientation,” the majority of five justices said according to AP. 

The two-member dissent, however, said the statute should be struck down because it "specifically discriminate against gay men and lesbians by categorically denying them crucial state benefits when their partner dies in the line of duty," according to AP.
 

Employees who are lesbian, bisexual, gay or transgendered do not have any federal protection from being discriminated against by their employers. The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate is going to take up a bill that would bar employment discrimination against Americans who are LGBT. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act "would prohibit discrimination by nonreligious entities against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity," The Washington Post reported. The bill, however, has been introduced several times in past legislative sessions and not gotten anywhere.

Hawaii has started a marathon special legislative session over same-sex marriage in which 1,800 people are expected to testify and 4,000 pages of prepared testimony has been submitted, the Associated Press reports. One special issue for Hawaii is that it is no small thing for same-sex couples to travel to another state to get married elsewhere in the United States: Hawaii Attorney General David Louie testified "that traveling to another state that allows gay marriage is no small issue," the AP reports.

The national trend of litigation to challenge bans on same-sex marriage is continuing in the Lone Star State. Two couples in Texas have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge that state's ban on same-sex marriage, arguing the ban violates the federal constitution and the Texas state constitution, the San Antonio Express-News reports. “There is no rational basis, much less a compelling government purpose, for Texas to deny plaintiffs the same right to marry enjoyed by the majority of society,” the plaintiffs' complaint said, according to the newspaper.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral argments last week in a case in which conservative plaintiffs argue the state's domestic partner registry violates the state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has a conservative-leaning majority, The Associated Press reported. The registry gives legal rights to same-sex couples like "the right to visit each other in hospitals and make end-of-life decisions for each other," the AP also reported.
 

The New Mexico Supreme Court heard oral argument today on whether that state's laws would allow same-sex marriage, the Associated Press reports. New Mexico is the rare state that does not explicitly authorize or bar same-sex marriage.  While "the marriage laws — unchanged since 1961 — include a marriage license application with sections for male and female applicants" and references husbands-and-wives, at least one judge also has ruled denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples is unconstitutional, the AP also reports.

Two same-sex couples who wedded in other states have filed a lawsuit to challenge both Tennessee's constitutional provision and statute banning same-sex marriage, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Journal also reports that Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said "the lawsuit is the 19th filed since the [U.S. Supreme Court] Windsor ruling [striking the federal Defense of Marriage Act ] came down, and one of only a handful filed in the south."

Last year, a federal judge upheld Nevada's state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage because Nevada has "a 'legitimate state interest' in maintaining the traditional institution of marriage. The question 'is not the wisdom of providing for or recognizing same-sex marriage as a matter of policy,' he wrote. Instead, [U.S. District Judge Robert] Jones said it was a constitutional question about Nevada’s right not to recognize marriages from other states 'if those laws do not conform to Nevada’s one-man-one-woman civil marriage institution,'" the Associated Press reported. On Friday, the ruling was appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Nevada bans same-sex matrimony but authorizes domestic partnerships.

The district court decision was made before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

An Ohio federal judge who ruled valid same-sex marriages entered into in other states must be recognized on Ohio death certificates is facing calls for his impeachment. Ohio bans same-sex marriage. Judge Timothy Seymour "Black’s friends and colleagues defend him as a highly intelligent, thoughtful judge who closely examines every case before delivering rulings free of personal bias," the Associated Press reported.