The Supreme Court of Ohio last week let stand an appeals court ruling affirming the enforceability of a court-approved child custody agreement in a case involving lesbian mothers.
“The Court has expressly shut down arguments that Ohio’s antigay amendment impacts parenting and child custody relationships, rights, and responsibilities,”said Camilla Taylor, Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office in Chicago. “The Court correctly declined an invitation to treat gay and lesbian Ohio parents differently from other families, and to deprive the children of these families of the protections and support other children receive.”
Lambda Legal represents Therese Leach in her fight to uphold a court-approved joint custody agreement signed by both her and her former partner, Denise Fairchild, in 2001. After their son was born in 1996, both women parented him. In order to ensure that Therese had a protected legal relationship with the child, the two women signed a joint custody agreement. Such agreements were approved by the Ohio Supreme Court in the 2001 In re Bonfield case in which Lambda Legal participated.
The Supreme Court decision comes after Fairchild argued, at a trial court, and the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Tenth District, that Ohio’s antigay constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a man and a woman invalidated the court approved custody agreement she originally sought with Leach. All three courts brushed aside Fairchild’s arguments, ruling that court-approved custody agreements cannot be ignored or unilaterally undone by one of the parents. In July 2008, Fairchild asked the Ohio Supreme Court to hear her case, and Lambda Legal urged the Court to refuse. Today’s order from the high court is the final word on the matter.
Source: Lambda Legal
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Ohio Supreme Court Allows Lesbian Custody Decision to Stand
Lesbian couple loses appeal in health club discrimination case
One step forward, two steps back...
Earlier this week a Minnesota appeals court judge upheld a ruling that found it legal for the Rochester Athletic Club to deny a family membership to a lesbian couple because the couple is not married. The case spotlights an instance where Minnesota anti-discrimination laws are ineffective so long as same-sex couples cannot marry.
Amy and Sarah Monson have been partners for seven years and are raising their daughter together. They co-own a business, have joint finances, and had a commitment ceremony in 2002. They have drafted estate plans for themselves and their daughter, and Sarah changed her last name to Monson.
The Rochester Athletic Club had a policy that only married couples could apply for a family membership package. The courts have said that since unmarried heterosexual couples also cannot get the discounted membership the policy does not constitute discrimination based on sexual orientation. But the Monsons contend that since they don’t have the option to marry, they shouldn't be compared with unmarried heterosexual couples who have the option to marry.
After four attempts to resolve the matter with the club, the Monsons filed a lawsuit in 2007, alleging a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the 1993 law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals denied their argument this past Tuesday and upheld a previous Olmstead County judge’s decision.
Judge Kevin Lund, the judge in the original decision, saw the flaws in the system. He called the health club’s policy “anachronistic” and an “unrealistically narrow definition of family” that “fails to recognize the underlying stability and commitment of the Monsons’ relationship,” a relationship that he said functions “as a loving family unit and would otherwise be married or have entered into a permissible legal domestic partnership if allowed by our Legislature.”
The Monsons may appeal the case to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Source: The Minnesota Independent
Lesbian couple invited on Inaugural Whistle Stop Tour
15 other families join Obama, Biden on train to ceremony
From Washington Blade staff reports
Recently the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee announced the names of 16 families who will join President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden on their Whistle Stop Tour to D.C. the Saturday before the inauguration.
Lesbian couple Lisa Hazirjian and her partner Michelle have been invited to join the Whistle Stop Tour and appear onstage with Obama and Biden during events.
Hazirjian, who is from Ohio, serves as an at-large board member of Equality Ohio, as a member of the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats and as a volunteer for Cleveland Families Count, an organization formed to defend the new domestic partner registry in the city.
She is now establishing herself as a leader in our community at the grassroots level, serving as an at-large board member of Equality Ohio, a member of the incredibly effective Cleveland Stonewall Democrats, and a volunteer with Cleveland Families Count, the organization formed recently to defend the new domestic partnership registry in Cleveland.
The other invited guests include: The invited guests include the following: Mark Dowell, Crestwood, KY; Matt Kuntz, Helena, MT; Jim and Alicia Girardeau, Kansas City, MO; Juliana Sanchez, Albuquerque, NM; Rosa Mendoza, Las Vegas, NV; Kirsten Meehan, Dover, NH; Roy Gross, Taylor, MI; Shandra Jackson, Arlington, TX; Quincy Lucas, Dover, DE; Patricia Stiles, Parker, CO; Gregg Weaver, Fairless Hills, PA; Tony Fischer, Cinncinati, OH; Lilly Ledbetter, Jacksonville, AL; Mike and Cheryl Fisher, Beech Grove, IN; and Randy Wehrman, LeClair, IA.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Nationwide DOMA Protest
On Saturday January 10th, 2009
JOIN THE IMPACT is asking that you to join them in making the LARGEST IMPACT YET!
Let's take our message all the way up the ladder to President Elect Barack Obama himself!
On January 10th, we will come together as one UNITED FRONT asking the LGBTQ community to join us in signing an Open Letter to President Barack Obama, during a NATIONAL DOMA PROTEST.
This letter will remind President Elect Barack Obama of the promises he made to us. It will also serve as a pledge from our community that we will hold him to his promises and help him achieve them.
We can’t just put a letter online and ask that people sign it. We need to take to the streets. As we all know… VISIBILITY IS THE KEY TO EQUALITY! Outreach & Education Will End Discrimination. We MUST Infiltrate, to Educate, and Stop Hate!
HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
- Find out who is organizing a DOMA Protest in your area. (+Cities">Quick Link to State Page) If there isn't one, then volunteer to organize an event, or organize to collect signatures!
- Download the Open Letter and take to the streets to gain signatures. Get one million signatures (in total across the nation) by the end of the day on January 10th.
- Mail the collected signatures to the JTI clearinghouse address BY DEADLINE: Join The Impact, PO Box 141491, Columbus, OH 43214
NOTE:
- If you can't organize a protest or one is not organized in your city (understandable with the holidays and all), then don't worry, you can still participate:
- Sign up to organize a carpool in your area that gets everyone to the closest protest
Get a group of friends together to canvas your neighborhood to get signatures for the open letter.
The Point of this event...
... to gather at least one million signatures on an Open Letter to President Barack Obama
to be delivered to him on his first day in office.
Join Us on January 10th for 1 Million Signatures to Repeal DOMA!
Another wave of legal arguments filed over California's Proposition 8
By Howard Mintz, Mercury News
Another wave of legal arguments hit the California Supreme Court on Monday in the battle over Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage.
Local governments, led by San Francisco and Santa Clara County, filed their latest opposition papers to Proposition 8, describing the voter-approved initiative as a "dark moment'' in California history. The brief is an attempt to refute the legal arguments of Proposition 8 backers as the Supreme Court weighs a challenge from government officials, civil rights groups and same-sex couples who are seeking the right to marry.
The San Francisco brief sides with the unique argument raised in December by Attorney General Jerry Brown, who argues that voters did not have the authority to strip away a fundamental constitutional right when they approved Proposition 8 in November. Brown, who ordinarily would be forced to defend state law, argued in his December brief that the state Supreme Court's decision last spring striking down California's prior gay marriage ban established that fundamental right to marry.
Proposition 8 supporters, represented by former Whitewater prosecutor and Pepperdine law school dean Kenneth Starr, also responded with fresh legal arguments Monday, calling Brown's argument an attempt to "declare a constitutional revolution."
"The attorney general's theory would fundamentally alter the role of the California judiciary," Proposition 8 backers wrote. "It would, in brief, constitute the
California judiciary as the supreme overseer of the people's use of their constitution-making power."
A series of lawsuits was filed shortly after the election, challenging Proposition 8 as an invalid method of amending the California Constitution. Proposition 8 supporters insist the law is valid, and that the Supreme Court does not have the right to topple the will of the voters.
The Supreme Court has set a deadline for final briefs to be filed by late January, and could hear the case as early as March. A decision could come by early summer. The court will decide the fate of the gay marriage ban, as well as the validity of thousands of same-sex marriages that have already taken place in the past six months.
Maturity in Relationships
LoveNote. . .To be capable of real love means becoming mature, with realistic expectations of the other person. It means accepting responsibility for our own happiness or unhappiness, and neither expecting the other person to make us happy nor blaming that person for our bad moods and frustrations. ~ John A. Sanford
Maturity, in general, is many things. Maturity in a love relationship is everything! First it is the ability to base a decision about a love relationship on the big picture - the long haul. In general, it means being able to pass up the fun for the moment and select the course of action which will pay off later.
In a love relationship, it means being able to enjoy the instant gratification that comes with the romance of the moment while knowing the best is yet to be and being patient while you watch your love grow. It is knowing that by working together, the state of unconditional love will present itself in the relationship and will mature with time. It is knowing that you grow into a love relationship. It doesn't happen all at once. Mature love partners seek new ways to help each other grow.
One of the characteristics of infancy is the "I want it now" approach. Grown-up people can wait. And often they don't. Often they allow themselves to slip back into infancy so they can justify rushing into things.
Maturity is the ability to stick with a project or a situation until it is finished. It means doing whatever it takes to make the relationship be one you are proud to be in. The adult who is constantly changing jobs, relationships, and friends, is in a word. . . immature. They cannot stick it out because they have not grown up. Everything seems to turn sour after a while.
LoveNote. . .For a love relationship to mature, both partners must experience a deep feeling, a tacit belief, that there is something quite special about them which would never have happened had each not contributed to its creation. ~ Larry A. BugenMature love partners have learned not to expect perfection in each other. They know that acceptance has its own reward. Each lover's differences test the other's capacity for acceptance, forgiveness and understanding. They never dance around issues. When necessary, they discuss their imperfections, lovingly, with care not to pass judgment with harmful words. Acceptance and tolerance hold hands in the presence of unconditional love.
Mature lovers -- lovers who love unconditionally -- develop a knack for side- stepping resentment and focusing on the good they see in one another. They have evolved to a higher level of understanding, one that transcends taking notice of the imperfections of the other.
Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness, frustration, discomfort and defeat without complaint or collapse. Mature love partners know they can't have everything their own way. They are able to defer to circumstances, to other people - and to time, when necessary.
Mature love partners permit each other the freedom to pursue their individual interests and friends without restriction. This is when trust presents itself. Mature love allows this level of separateness to bring lovers closer together. In this scenario separateness is perceived as a bond, not a wedge. It encourages love partners to celebrate their own uniqueness.
LoveNote. . . We can come to realize that mature love equals loving yourself for
being what you are, and likewise loving another person for who they are. When we can feel such unconditional no-matter-how-you-act love, we have learned what I call mature love. Mature love allows you fully to be yourself with your loved one. ~ Bruce Fisher, Ed.D.
Maturity is the ability to live up to the responsibilities of a love relationship, and this means being dependable. It means keeping your word; it means living in your relationship like your word really means something. Dependability equates with personal integrity. This means no withholds. It means saying what needs to be said, with love. Do you mean what you say? Do you say what you mean?
The world is filled with people who can't be counted on, people who never seem to come through in the clutches, people who break promises and substitute alibis for performance. They make excuses. They show up late - or not at all. They are confused and disorganized. Their lives are a chaotic maze of unfinished business and uncommitted relationships. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
LoveNote. . . Mature love offers us our most profound opportunity for regaining wholeness - not because our partners will fill all of our emptiness, but because we can use the embrace of a loving relationship to nurture ourselves toward greater maturation and ripening. ~ Larry A. Bugen
Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. Immature people spend their lives exploring endless possibilities and then do nothing. Action requires courage. There is no maturity without courage.
Maturity is the ability to harness your abilities and your energies and to do more than is expected in your relationships. The mature person refuses to settle for mediocrity. They would rather aim high and miss the mark than aim low and hit it.
Utah's Delicate Arch serves as site for gay rights rally
Gay-rights activists in Utah will rally at one of the state's important symbols - Delicate Arch.
On Saturday, people plan to gather in view of the treasured redrock formation to rally support for Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative.
The effort is a collection of five bills, aimed at the upcoming legislative session, that would provide legal protections to same-sex couples, such as hospital visitation and inheritance rights, and forbid discrimination against gay and transgender people in employment and housing.
Delicate Arch is "an important symbol for all Utahns," said organizer Michael Mueller, founder of the Facebook community Utahns for Marriage Equality. "We're all Utahns first - gay, straight, whatever."
Mueller, who is straight and married, said, "There are certain rights that all people should have."
Participants will gather in the Delicate Arch parking lot at Arches National Park near Moab from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and then walk to a viewpoint for a rally.
Speakers will include Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Christine Johnson, who is sponsoring a Common Ground bill; Claudia Bradshaw, founder of the St. George chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends).
Marriage Equality USA explains the event on its website
