Photo: Eric Holder. Credit: The Aspen Institute/flickr.
The Obama administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of marriage equality nationwide in a brief filed with the court Friday.
“The marriage bans challenged in these cases impermissibly exclude lesbian and gay couples from the rights, responsibilities, and status of civil marriage,” the “friend of the court” brief filed by the Justice Department states. “These facially discriminatory laws impose concrete harms on same-sex couples and send the inescapable message that same-sex couples and their children are second-class families, unworthy of the recognition and benefits that opposite-sex couples take for granted. The bans cannot be reconciled with the fundamental constitutional guarantee of ‘equal protection of the laws.’”
The brief is one of dozens filed with the high court calling for a ruling in favor of marriage equality later this year. Also on Friday, more than 300 conservatives and 211 Democratic members of Congress urged the court to strike down state bans on same-sex marriage in separate briefs filed with the court.
According to the brief, state bans on same-sex marriage “impose a more direct stigma that is all the more painful because its source is the home State and not the federal government; they exclude lesbian and gay couples from the institution of civil marriage; and they deprive the children of those couples of equal recognition of their family structure. There is no adequate justification for such a discriminatory and injurious exercise of state power.”
In January, the nation’s highest court agreed to consolidate four cases challenging same-sex marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld marriage bans in those four states. On Thursday, the Supreme Court announced oral arguments on the issue of marriage equality would be heard April 28, with a ruling expected by the end of June.
The Human Rights Campaign PAC has endorsed Democrat Abigail Spanberger to be the next governor of Virginia.
The endorsement by the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization comes at a time when some Democrats are urging members of their party to distance themselves from the LGBTQ community.
Spanberger, one of the more conservative members of the Democratic House Caucus during her six years in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been praised by some pundits for her criticism of left-leaning voices within the Democratic Party, especially on issues like public safety, national security, and support for Israel.\
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a law repealing the state's statutory ban on same-sex marriage, just over five months after Colorado voters repealed the state's constitutional ban on recognizing such unions.
The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Jessie Danielson (D-Wheat Ridge) and State Reps. Lorena Garcia (D-Adams Co.) and Brianna Titone (D-Arvada), the state's first out elected transgender lawmaker, repealed the statutory ban, which was implemented in 2006, the same year voters approved prohibiting same-sex nuptials.
In a reflection of how Coloradans' attitudes toward same-sex marriage have changed in just under two decades, last November's ballot initiative, Constitutional Amendment J, passed by a nearly two-to-one margin, winning by healthy margins even in some of the state's more rural counties, and racking up large margins in Denver, Fort Collins, and Boulder metropolitan areas.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.