Equality On Trial

It’s never that simple.  Very good outline of the alternatives for bi-national couples in immigration reform.  Essentially, if SCOTUS overturns DOMA, the job would mostly be done, but, as with DADT repeal, with clean-up required.

But there’s an interesting wrinkle in the issue that’s gotten surprisingly little attention. The law that’s standing in the way of allowing same-sex spouses who get married in one of the 10 states (plus Washington, D.C.) where same-sex is legal to get green cards is the Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA bans federal recognition of same-sex marriages. But the law is also before the Supreme Court at the moment, and there’s a real chance that a majority will rule it to unconstitutional.

If that happens, legally married LGBT couples will be able to petition for green cards, the same as any other married couple. At least that’s the interpretation of Paul Smith, a partner at Jenner & Block and arguably the leading gay rights litigator in the country (he won Lawrence v. Texas, overturning state bans on gay sex). Smith e-mails, “My understanding is that the elimination of DOMA would by itself mean that all binational married couples would have the same rights, whether same sex or not.”

Steve Ralls, director of communications at Immigration Equality (IE), an advocacy group that works on behalf of binational same-sex couples, agrees. “The precedent in immigration law is that marriages are recognized based on the state of celebration, not the state of domicile. If it’s valid where performed, it’s valid for immigration,” Ralls says. “A couple in Virginia could travel to the District, get married and then petition for their green card.”

NOM responds predictably to marriage equality in Rhode Island.

What a great idea.

It’s perfect, really.

The Suburbs’ 1983 anthem “Love is the Law” is poised to become the unofficial theme song of the moment when the bill to legalize gay marriage in Minnesota becomes law, which could happen as early as next week – which will mean a big party, which will require a big party song, which is where Chan Poling and Minnesotans United come in.

Reports there could be activity in Delaware, Illinois and Minnesota as early as next week.

Excellent write-up on the history and current status of ENDA, and the problematic religious exemptions,

See this also, from Huffington Post.

Why ENDA’s Religious Exemption Must Be Narrowed

Title VII of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act grants churches, synagogues, and mosques, as well as some religiously affiliated organizations an exemption from the law’s prohibition on religious hiring discrimination-meaning they can prefer members of their own faith in hiring. The purpose of this exemption is to permit a religious organization to require those who carry out its work to share its faith (and it has subsequently been interpreted to apply even when an employee’s work is not itself religious). But, it is not a blank check for these organizations to discriminate for any reason. It does not, for example, permit discrimination on the basis of race or sex.

As it stands, ENDA’s religious exemption could provide those same religiously affiliated organizations-again, not just houses of worship-with a blank check to engage in employment discrimination against LGBT people. It could allow, for example, a religiously affiliated hospital to fire a transgender doctor or a religiously affiliated university to terminate a gay groundskeeper. Beyond allowing greater discrimination, ENDA’s religious exemption also gives  a stamp of legitimacy to LGBT discrimination that our civil rights laws have never given to discrimination based on an individual’s race, sex, national origin, age, or disability.

Rhode Island’s same-sex marriage debate is often cast as a civil rights issue, but a new study suggests legalizing gay weddings could have a measurable economic impact as well.

The new study released by UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute argues that extending marriage rights to same-sex couples in Rhode Island would bring an estimated $7 million into the Ocean State’s economy, primarily through the local wedding and tourism industries.

The study predicts that in the first three years after legalizing same-sex marriage, Rhode Island’s wedding and tourism businesses would see total spending increase by $7 million, including $5.5 million in additional wedding spending and $1.5 million in tourism expenditures made by out-of-town guests.

Testimony.  Immigration reform chapter.

Where things stand in Illinois.

Hundreds of Colorado gay and lesbian couples put an official government seal on their relationships in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after the state’s civil-unions law took effect….

Mayor Michael Hancock performed many of the first ceremonies, along with U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, municipal judges and religious officiants at multiple stations to move through the crowd in the early morning hours.

Colorado knows how to throw a party.

All over the internet now…what I found intriguing about this article  is who is tweeting:  Bill Clinton, Martina Navratilova, Kobe Bryant, Neal Patrick Harris…

Journeyman NBA center Jason Collins bombshell announcement – he’s believed to be the first active athlete in a major American professional sport to publicly identify himself as homosexual – has people within the sport, in other sports and throughout the world talking about his revelation.