Best Divorce Blog Posts of 2012

Scott Morgan, principal of the Morgan Law Firm (Houston and Austin, Texas) and fellow family law blogger, has put me on his list of the Best Divorce Blog Posts of 2012.  Check out that link for some good reading. I made it to the list on account of my blogging about gay marriage issues.  Thanks for the props, Scott!

Beyond Washington, Maryland and Maine: New Battleground States for Marriage Equality

Well, it indeed became official late last week that Washington state's referendum on marriage equality was in fact a win for marriage equality. Washington will thus be included with Maine and Maryland as the first three states to approve gay marriage by a popular vote, rather than strictly through legislative or judicial action.  They all did so in this November's elections. These three new states will now join the six other states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Iowa) and the District of Columbia as jurisdictions where gay and lesbian couples may marry.  New battleground states to watch, according to Queerty: New Jersey, Rhode Island, Illinois, Oregon, and Delaware.


For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Voters in Maryland, Maine and Washington To Approve Gay Marriage

Well, it seems to have happened.  All three of the states - Maryland, Maine and Washington - where same-sex marriage ballot initiatives were voted on yesterday, appear to be creating the right of same-sex marriage.  They join six other states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa, and New York) for a new total of nine states, plus the District of Columbia, where gay and lesbian couples may now marry.

(The vote has not yet been officially announced in Washington state, but is expected to come soon.)

These new states will be the first to create marriage equality through a popular vote, rather than through judicial or legislative action.  Three states, including our own Massachusetts, as well as Connecticut and Iowa, have judicially-created gay marriage.  The other three states, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York, have legislatively-created gay marriage.

No doubt popular support for gay marriage equality is growing.  I continue to hope that family law scholar Joanna Grossman was right when, early this year, she optimistically foresaw, as her article title itself (following link) suggested, "the beginning of the end of the anti-same sex movement."  Indeed, another hopeful sign, from yesterday, was that Minnesota's voters rejected the ballot initiative there which called for a state constitutional amendment limiting marriage to the traditional, heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman.

I fear, however, that I may also be right in my own more pessimistic response that although progress is real, it is likely to continue to be rather slow.  (Here I am reminded of one of my favorite George Orwell quotes: "Progress is not an illusion, it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.") Just as there will be a few states moving in the direction of equality, I believe there will continue to be, for many years, a large majority of states where social conservatives stubbornly refuse to recognize gay marriage.  After all, we're still only up to 9 states plus D.C..  That leaves 41 states without gay marriage, many of which already have bans on gay marriages. And of course we are still living with the federal statute (the Defense of Marriage Act).

Stay tuned.   The U.S. Supreme Court will surely weigh in soon on at least some of the issues presented by the laws for and against gay marriage.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Second Circuit Joins First in Striking DOMA

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York just became the second of the intermediate-level federal appeals courts (circuit courts) to find the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.   The first was our First Circuit Court of Appeals here in Boston back in May of this year.   The Second Circuit decision, which found the federal statute to be an unconstitutional violation of equal protection under heightened scrutiny (the "intermediate level scrutiny" for "quasi-suspect" classifications), is the most likely case on gay marriage to reach the US Supreme Court.  

Two other same-sex marriage cases likely to reach the Supreme Court are the First Circuit decision in Boston also striking down DOMA, and the Ninth Circuit decision overturning California's ban on gay marriage out there. 

For a short explanation of this Second Circuit case, with some discussion of related federal court decisions, see David Kemp's The End of an Unjust Law: The Second Circuit Strikes Down DOMA and Sets the Stage for Supreme Court Review.  Also see the New York Times article for an overview.


For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

9th Circuit Panel's Strike-Down of Prop 8 Will Stand

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in California, decided on Tuesday not to have a rehearing, by a larger en banc panel of that court, on the Proposition 8 case earlier heard by its 3-judge panel, which struck down the voter-enacted ban on gay marriage on equal protection grounds.  That means that gay marriage proponents have won for now, and that Proposition 8 backers will be attempting to take this up to the US Supreme Court.

It is not certain the US Supreme Court will review that case, however.

It's more likely the Supreme Court will hear the First Circuit case from here in Boston that just found DOMA unconstitutional.  But it's also possible the Supreme Court will elect to hear both cases (see constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky's comments in the excerpted article below).  We shall see.

Meantime, there will be no gay marriage yet in California, as despite this final word from the Ninth Circuit in its favor, the mandate will be stayed until final disposition of the appeal to the US Supreme Court.  Here's my excerpt from the excellent article from Law.com's The Recorder:

The order denying rehearing leaves in place the court's February 2-1 ruling striking down the ban on equal protection grounds. The majority, led by famously liberal Judge Stephen Reinhardt, said the voter-enacted initiative served no purpose other than "to lessen the status and human dignity" of gays. 

Only four of the court's 25 active members publicly backed rehearing the case before an 11-judge panel. Three of them issued a short yet blistering dissent. "Based on a two-judge majority's gross misapplication of Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996), we have now declared that animus must have been the only conceivable motivation for a sovereign state to have remained committed to a definition of marriage that has existed for millennia," wrote Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain.  

"Even worse, we have overruled the will of 7 million California Proposition 8 voters based on a reading of Romer that would be unrecognizable to the justices who joined it, to those who dissented from it, and to the judges from sister circuits who have since interpreted it." Judges Carlos Bea and Jay Bybee joined him.  

Judge N. Randy Smith, who dissented in February, also wanted the case reheard. O'Scannlain's three-paragraph "dissental," as judges on the court call them, opens by pointing to the media "firestorm" President Obama created with his recent announcement supporting same-sex marriage. "Drawing less attention, however, were his comments that the Constitution left this matter to the states and that 'one of the things that [he]'d like to see is that [the] conversation continue in a respectful way,'" O'Scannlain wrote. "Today our court has silenced any such respectful conversation."  

Judge Stephen Reinhardt and Senior Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, who joined him in the panel majority, fired off a single-paragraph response. "We are puzzled by our dissenting colleagues' unusual reliance on the president's views regarding the Constitution, especially as the president did not discuss the narrow issue that we decided in our opinion," the two Democrat-appointees said. "We held only that under the particular circumstances relating to California's Proposition 8, that measure was invalid. In line with the rules governing judicial resolution of constitutional issues, we did not resolve the fundamental question that both sides asked us to: whether the Constitution prohibits the states from banning same-sex marriage." 

Indeed, Reinhardt's panel opinion, leaning heavily on Romer, was painstakingly tailored to California. "Because under California statutory law, same-sex couples had all the rights of opposite-sex couples, regardless of their marital status, all parties agree that Proposition 8 had one effect only," Reinhardt's panel opinion said. "It stripped same-sex couples of the ability they previously possessed to obtain from the state, or any other authorized party, an important right — the right to obtain and use the designation of 'marriage' to describe their relationship."  

O'Scannlain's short dissent didn't go into the merits, but called Smith's February dissenting opinion "excellent." All four dissenters are Republican appointees.  

The Ninth Circuit's denial of en banc review means Perry could very well be on a similar track for Supreme Court review as a Defense of Marriage Act challenge that was before the First Circuit. A three-judge panel of the Boston-based court last week rendered unconstitutional the provision of DOMA that denies federal benefits to same-sex couples.
Some think a DOMA challenge would be a more likely candidate for high court review since it's a challenge to a federal statute, not a state voter initiative, and since plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case are asking for a far more sweeping ruling — one declaring marriage a fundamental right.  

"I would not be surprised to see the Supreme Court take both and have them both briefed and argued (as it often has done)," UC-Irvine law school Dean Erwin Chemerinsky wrote in an email. He noted the court often takes cases on related topics and has them handled "in tandem," where they would be briefed on the same schedule, argued the same day and decided in separate opinions. On the other hand, he said, the Prop 8 opinion is narrow in that it's limited to a state that granted a right and then rescinded it whereas the DOMA case, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, strikes down a federal statute. 

"The court always is inclined to take a case where a federal law is struck down."
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For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

First Circuit Finds DOMA Unconstitutional

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston found DOMA unconstitutional today.  But enforcement of this federal court of appeals ruling - which would extend the federal economic benefits denied by DOMA to gay couples - will have to await a decision by the US Supreme Court.   The First Circuit's decision is here.  For a good summary, see Ruthann Robson's blog.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

9th Circuit Panel Finds California's Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

Well, here's the decision from the 9th Circuit out in California, released as expected today.  The three-judge panel affirmed the lower federal court's decision finding Proposition 8 unconstitutional.  See the AP article on this here.   

After reading the decision (and dissent) just then, I concur with Barry Deutsch, who opines here that this ruling is likely to survive scrutiny by the US Supreme Court because it was decided on narrow grounds.   It does not in fact declare that the US Constitution grants a right of gay marriage.  

The narrow issue actually decided was, as Barry Deutsch put it: "Can a state pass a special law to eliminate an already-existing right for same-sex couples to have the legal designation 'marriage' applied to their relationships, when the state otherwise makes no legal distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships? And the Court’s answer is no." But this is not over yet, so stay tuned. Here's the gist of the AP article:

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for a likely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 -- a response to an earlier state court decision that legalized gay marriage -- was a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians. 

However, the appeals court said gay marriages cannot resume in the state until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors to appeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit. If such an appeal is filed, gay marriages will remain on hold until it's resolved.  

"Although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted," the ruling states.
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For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

The Latest on Gay Marriage - California, Washington and the Nation

Folks interested in gay marriage issues, particularly those living in California, are awaiting the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision, expected to be released today, which will reveal its three-judge panel's opinion on whether Proposition 8 (the ban by voters on gay marriage in the state of California) is constitutional, specifically whether the lower court's opinion against the Proposition will stand.  If the lower court's decision is affirmed, the supporters of the ban plan to appeal to the entire panel of the 9th Circuit and then to the US Supreme Court if necessary.  Check out the AP story, as appears at Boston.com.

And there is yet more news on the West Coast. Law prof Joanna Grossman has another interesting article, this one mainly about the gay marriage legislation just passed by the state senate in the state of Washington, and which is expected to be passed soon by the house and signed by the governor there, and which would make Washington the seventh state (after Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York), along with the District of Columbia, where gay marriage has been created and legalized either by legislative or judicial action.

In Washington, this legislative action is unique, as Grossman points out, in that "it will be the first time, since the beginning of the modern same-sex marriage controversy, that a state legislature has reversed itself, moving from a statutory ban on same-sex marriage to a statutory authorization" and it will have all happened in a very short time. For more about these recent developments in Washington, and for a brief summary of the developments in the recent, nine-year-long history of gay marriage in the United States, see her online article, The Beginning of the End of the Anti-Same-Sex-Marriage Movement .

Grossman's optimism, in believing as she does that "same-sex marriage is an inevitable, eventual reality" is understandable, given this and other recent developments. She explains how the Washington state legislature did a rather quick about-face in favor of gay marriage, and sees that as a sign that views around the country are changing quickly and that "even deeply entrenched opposition may dissipate sooner than we thought." She notes that same-sex marriage bills are working their way through legislatures in other states, including those of New Jersey and Maryland.

I once shared her optimism, but now I have my doubts. Any suggestion that the six, soon-to-be-seven, states, plus the District of Columbia, will quickly grow in number to include most or all of the other 44 (soon-to-be-43) states where gay marriage has not been legalized, is wildly optimistic. It is far too easy for those of us who live in New England and New York (home to all but one of the current same-sex marriage states) to be out of touch with what is going on in the more conservative regions of the South and the Midwest, and indeed the vast expanse of the country. I tend to think we are going to continue to have, for the foreseeable future, a vast majority of states that are, as they have been, consistently and obstinately unfriendly to same-sex marriage, while a very small number of new states warm to the idea.

Gay couples are a very small minority of households, even in Massachusetts. In the more conservative states, where the religious right or at least conservative social values hold sway, the small minority of gay couples and their liberal and libertarian supporters are likely to continue to be drowned out by the louder, and stronger, voices of the more socially conservative majority. If you've read this far, you might find interesting as I did these numerous charts showing the demographics of same-sex couples in the US, derived from the latest (2010) US Census.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Maine Voters Repeal Gay Marriage Law

Maine voters repealed their state's gay marriage law yesterday.

BOSTON GLOBE - PORTLAND, Maine - Maine voters overturned the state’s same-sex marriage law yesterday, delivering a potentially crushing blow to gay-rights advocates after a year when their cause seemed to be gaining momentum with legislative and legal victories in four states.

The “people’s veto’’ came six months after Maine’s law was approved, and one year after California voters rejected gay marriage by a similar margin.

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For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

"Till Death Do Us Pay" - More on the Need for Alimony Reform

Finally, a little slice of la vida real in our Massachusetts family court system: Till Death Do Us Pay - Boston Magazine.

I'm encouraged to see such critical words from a local media source, in this case Boston Magazine. You definitely will not get such truth from the Boston Globe. And what a shame that is, as the Boston Globe is still the best newspaper we have in this state. Yet, by its gross negligence and incompetence in its reporting in the area of family law, the Boston Globe continues to hold back family law progress, even though it, together with its parent The New York Times Company, had earlier been so instrumental in pushing forward progress in the gay rights and gay marriage arena.

This is definitely a must-read article for anyone interested in the crazy world of alimony law in Massachusetts. I've written about this here before. Our archaic alimony law in Massachusetts has created a number of family law problems that should have been solved long ago. I do hope that reasonable heads will eventually prevail here, and that there will be a complete, extensive overhaul of our absurd alimony law and accompanying practices.

This article, though not perfect, provides a penetrating look into a system in great need of common sense overhaul, in this state which claims to be progressive, but is actually only selectively so. And when I say that I mean a system much broader than merely that which sustains a ridiculously outdated alimony system, but the entire family law system which is backward and unfair in so many other respects.

It is way past time that our state treated fathers and exhusbands and their children, along with all the various family units of which they are a part, with the same level of dignity as gay and lesbian individuals and female-headed households. Until that happens, Massachusetts will continue to be the oddball state, where progressive policies in favor of gay and lesbian couples (policies about which I believe we should be very proud) stand in stark contrast to backwards, archaic, protectionist, sexist policies that promote traditional family structures and female dependency in heterosexual relationships over independence, equality and justice.

And when I say policies, I mean not only laws - both statutes and rulings by our appellate courts - but also practices and other rules, written and unwritten, which continue to be perpetuated by the family law establishment.

Please read the article.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

New Hampshire Becomes Sixth State to Allow Gay and Lesbian Marriages

Well, now it has happened: the New Hampshire legislature passed the final version of its gay marriage bill and the governor signed it this afternoon. It will become law in January of next year: N.H. Governor Signs Gay Marriage Bill.

EXCERPT FROM TODAY'S AP ARTICLE:

CONCORD, New Hampshire - New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage after the Senate and House passed key language on religious rights and Gov. John Lynch — who personally opposes gay marriage — signed the legislation Wednesday afternoon.

After rallies outside the Statehouse by both sides in the morning, the last of three bills in the package went to the Senate, which approved it 14-10 Wednesday afternoon.

Cheers from the gallery greeted the key vote in the House, which passed it 198-176. Surrounded by gay marriage supporters, Lynch signed the bill about an hour later.

'Today, we are standing up for the liberties of same-sex couples by making clear that they will receive the same rights, responsibilities — and respect — under New Hampshire law,' Lynch said.

Lynch, a Democrat, had promised a veto if the law didn't clearly spell out that churches and religious groups would not be forced to officiate at gay marriages or provide other services. Legislators made the changes.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont and Iowa already allow gay marriage, though opponents hope to overturn Maine's law with a public vote.

California briefly allowed gay marriage before a public vote banned it; a court ruling grandfathered in couples who were already married.

The New Hampshire law will take effect Jan. 1, exactly two years after the state began recognizing civil unions.

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For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Maine Now Permits Gay Marriage; New Hampshire Will Likely Be Next

This past month, Maine has become the fifth state to legalize gay marriage. For the basic story, see the Huffington Post's article from earlier this month: Maine Gay Marriage Legalized. Meanwhile it seems New Hampshire is on the verge of approving same-sex marriage as well, although there is presently what supporters hope will only be a slight delay.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Vermont Legislates Right to Gay Marriage

And yes, now it's happened in Vermont: Vermont has legalized gay marriage. Vermont legalizes gay marriage | burlingtonfreepress.com | The Burlington Free Press. Yesterday, Vermont joined Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa and is now the fourth state with a right to gay and lesbian marriages. Unlike the other states before it, however, Vermont created this right through legislative rather than judicial enactment. After the governor vetoed the legislation, both houses of the legislature over-rode his veto. The new law takes effect September 1, 2009.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Iowa's Highest Court Institutes Gay Marriage; Vermont's Legislature Is Well On the Way to the Same Goal; New York Grants First Same-Sex Divorce

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Wow, there have been quite a few developments on the gay marriage front - today, yesterday, and this past week. As Vermont moves closer to becoming, possibly, the first state to create gay marriage by legislative enactment, now that its House has joined the Senate in passing a bill that would permit gay and lesbian couples to marry there, Iowa today has become the next state to do it judicially, as have Massachusetts and Connecticut before it (and also, for a time, California, although that was short-lived): Iowa gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional - msnbc.com.

From the website of the Iowa Judicial Branch, you can find the summary/press release describing the decision, and the full decision as well.

Also, New York has now made good on its earlier promise to recognize gay and lesbian marriages performed in other states by accepting jurisdiction and granting divorces to such couples if and when they move to New York. The first such divorce was granted in New York this week. See Same Sex Divorce-Granted! - New York Divorce and Family Law Blog.


For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Gay Marriage Coming Soon to Vermont? New Hampshire?

New England continues to be center stage in the gay marriage debate.

Both Vermont and New Hampshire each have legislative proposals that were recently approved by one of their legislative bodies to legalize gay or same-sex marriage. See yesterday's New York Times article, Gay Marriage, Set Back in One State, Gains in a 2nd - NYTimes.com.

New Hampshire's House of Representatives just narrowly approved its gay marriage bill this past Thursday, and its Senate may consider a similar bill but prospects do not appear to be good in this more conservative-leaning state. Vermont's Senate overwhelmingly approved its own bill the Friday before last, and its House is already actively considering a similar proposal. But both states have governors who are likely to veto the bills if they come before them. Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont has already stated he will veto the Vermont bill if it comes to his desk.

Vermont was the first state to legalize gay and lesbian civil unions. New Hampshire only created civil unions this past year. If the other legislative bodies also approve the bills in each state, and then can override the probable vetoes by their governors, then we will see a further expansion of gay marriage in this region.

It would hardly be a surprise to see one of these New England states become the next to join Massachusetts and Connecticut, as the only states currently and fully santioning the legal formation of gay and lesbian marriages. My bet would be on Vermont. Maybe not this year, but eventually.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Florida Trial Judge Rules That State's Ban on Gay Adoptions Is Unconstitutional

Today in the news there was yet another interesting development in the world of gay rights, this one in Florida: Florida ban on gay adoptions ruled unconstitutional - MiamiHerald.com.

EXCERPT FROM MIAMI HERALD ARTICLE OF TODAY:
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER (cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com)

A Miami-Dade circuit judge Tuesday declared Florida's 30-year-old ban on gay adoption unconstitutional, allowing a North Miami man to adopt two foster kids he has raised since 2004.

In a 53-page order that sets the stage for what could become a constitutional showdown, Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman permitted 47-year-old Frank Gill to adopt the 4- and 8-year-old boys he and his partner have raised since just before Christmas four years ago. A child abuse investigator had asked Gill to care for the boys temporarily; they were never able to return to their birth parents.

''This is the forum where we try to heal children, find permanent families for them so they can get another chance at what every child should know and feel from birth, and go on to lead productive lives,'' Lederman said in court before releasing the order. ``We pray for them to thrive, but that is a word we rarely hear in dependency court.''

''These children are thriving; it is uncontroverted,'' the judge added.

Moments after Lederman released the ruling, attorneys for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced they would appeal the decision to the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.

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For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

California, Arizona and Florida Join Long List of States Banning Gay Marriage

Two more states besides California - namely, Arizona and Florida - have joined the list of nearly 30 U.S. states banning gay marriage, as the result of last week's elections. Although California still has civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, most of the states with bans, including Arizona and Florida, do not have civil unions, domestic partnerships, or any kind of recognition of these relationships. For a basic overview, see this New York Times article about the three state bans, and also read this from the New Hampshire Family Law Blog.

It seems the Northeast, and particularly New England, is exceptional. Massachusetts and Connecticut are now the only states sanctioning gay marriage. Vermont and New Hampshire have civil unions and Maine also has a degree of recognition of same-sex relationships through domestic partnerships. New York recognizes same-sex marriages formed in other states, and New Jersey also has civil unions. Outside this, our very tolerant area of the country, only the West Coast states have some formal, legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples: California still has civil unions, while Oregon and Washington have domestic partnerships.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

California Electorate Voted to Ban Gay Marriage; Legislators Try Hail Mary Pass to California Supreme Court

California voters approved the gay marriage ban in that state, by voting for Proposition 8, during their election last week. Meanwhile, Democratic legislators are asking the California Supreme Court to void Proposition 8, in what the manager of the Proposition 8 campaign derides as a "Hail Mary" pass: Democratic legislators ask state Supreme Court to void Prop. 8 - Los Angeles Times. Some gay and lesbian couples have already gotten married in California, between the time the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and the time when the gay marriage ban was approved last week. Their future is unclear.

Meanwhile, it is likely this development will improve the tourism prospects for Massachusetts and Connecticut, as these New England states, now the only states currently sanctioning gay marriage, should have a monopoly on the gay destination wedding market in the U.S.

EXCERPT FROM LA TIMES ARTICLE, BY DAN MORAIN, 11/11/08:

Reporting from Sacramento -- Forty-three Democratic legislators, including leaders of the California Senate and Assembly, filed a brief Monday urging the California Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and incoming President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg signed the friend of the court brief, filed with the state Supreme Court.

No Republican legislator signed the petition, though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, denounced the anti-gay marriage measure over the weekend.

With almost 11 million ballots tallied, Proposition 8 had 52.3% of the vote to 47.7%. Although many ballots remain to be counted, the 500,000-vote spread is viewed as insurmountable.

"The citizens of California rely on the Legislature and the courts to safeguard against unlawful discrimination by temporary, and often short-lived, majorities," the legislators said in the document, written by attorneys at the firm Gibson, Dunn &Crutcher.

"This is a Hail Mary, no question about it," said Frank Schubert, manager of the Proposition 8 campaign.

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For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

More on Connecticut's Same-Sex Marriage Decision

Here's another good article by Hofstra Law Professor Joanna Grossman, this one on the recent Connecticut Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision: FindLaw's Writ - Grossman: And Connecticut Makes Three: The State's Highest Court Declares Same-Sex Marriage Ban Unconstitutional.

....Connecticut's ruling is similar to the ones in Massachusetts and California, though in subtle ways it is also stronger. Connecticut's civil union law did grant same-sex couples identical rights and benefits to married couples, unlike California's domestic partnership law, which had one tangible difference. And Connecticut's ruling on constitutional sufficiency is marginally stronger than that of Massachusetts, since it came as part of a fully-litigated controversy rather than as an advisory opinion. But these distinctions are minor; it's fair to treat all three of these cases as standing for the same principle: When it comes to marriage, separate is not equal.

The civil union operates as a pragmatic step toward marriage equality - one that secures tangible benefits for same-sex couples despite the present political climate. Polls often show majority support for civil unions, but not for same-sex marriage. Despite the practical benefits, however, the stigma and second-class nature inherent in an alternative status is inescapable. That is a reality that Massachusetts, California and, now, Connecticut have rightly faced up to - and acknowledged with rulings ensuring the name of marriage is accessible to all.

It's hard to know how many states must recognize same-sex marriage before we have a critical mass, but three is a good place to start.

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.

Connecticut Finds Right to Same-Sex Marriage - Joins Massachusetts and California

In a long-awaited decision, the Connecticut Supreme Court yesterday joined the highest courts of California and Massachusetts in creating, or recognizing, a right of same-sex marriage on state constitutional grounds. As in those other courts, the decision was a close 4-3. See the news here: Connecticut Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage - The Boston Globe. The majority opinion of the court is here, and the three separate dissenting opinions are here, here and here.

EXCERPT FROM OCTOBER 10, 2008 BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE:
(By Michael Levenson and Andrew Ryan)

Connecticut became the third state to legalize same-sex marriage today in a 4-3 decision by the state Supreme Court.

In an 85-page decision issued at 11:30 a.m., the court struck down a law barring same-sex marriage, ruling that the state had "failed to establish adequate reason to justify the statutory ban."

The justices noted in the majority opinion that they recognized "as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health … that 'our decision marks a change in the history of our marriage law.' "

The case, Kerrigan v. the state Commissioner of Public Health, was brought by eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by the Madison town clerk. They argued that the state's civil union law was discriminatory and unconstitutional because it established a separate and therefore inherently unequal institution for a
minority group. Citing equal protection under the law, the state Supreme Court
agreed.

"In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry," said the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Richard N. Palmer.

....

For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.