Free Republic

A Republican seeking congressional office and touting a reform agenda has just made history by becoming the first politician on the campaign trail to bring his gay partner to the forefront, with an advertising film. “I don’t see it as such a big deal,” said openly gay Carl DeMaio, of his campaign ad for California office that shows him holding hands with his gay partner, in The Daily Mail. He downplayed the ad further, saying that it’s not really different from other politician hopefuls who show their “spouse, their children, their household pets” in their ads, the newspaper said. In...

Larry Lamont and Jerry Slater take part in a symbolic same-sex marriage ceremony outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh Feb. 4. The Scottish Parliament passed a bill that will allow same-sex marriages to be performed later this year, but religious organizations have the right not to perform them. (CNS photo/Russell Cheyne, Reuters) Surveying history for anything resembling same-sex marriage in any culture, clime, or era is a fruitless search. It has never been proposed, not even in ancient Greece, as some would like to argue. So why does this enigma of history seem like just the next progressive step...

A Texas appeals court on Thursday overturned a judge’s ruling that had voided the marriage of a transgender widow whose firefighter husband died battling a blaze. The 13th Texas Court of Appeals sent the case of Nikki Araguz back to the lower court, saying “there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding (Araguz’s) sex and whether the marriage was a same sex marriage.” In 2011, state District Judge Randy Clapp in Wharton County ruled that the marriage between Nikki Araguz and her husband Thomas Araguz was “void as a matter of law.” …

Attorney General Eric Holder announced Saturday that the Justice Department will now follow a landmark Supreme Court ruling on same-sex spouses, which means they will no longer be compelled to testify against each other in civil and criminal cases. The policy changes mean same-sex spouses also should be eligible to file jointly for bankruptcy and have the same rights and privileges in federal prison as inmates in heterosexual marriages. Prosecutors have used various legal challenges against the spousal privilege. But Holder made clear the federal government will no longer make such challenges, even in states where same-sex marriages are not...

The Justice Department on Monday will instruct all of its employees across the country, for the first time, to give lawful same-sex marriages sweeping equal protection under the law in every program it administers, from courthouse proceedings to prison visits to the compensation of surviving spouses of public safety officers. In a new policy memo, the department will spell out the rights of same-sex couples, including the right to decline to give testimony that might incriminate their spouses, even if their marriages are not recognized in the state where the couple lives. ... “This means that, in every courthouse, in...

In an assertion of same-sex marriage rights, Attorney General Eric Holder is applying a landmark Supreme Court ruling to the Justice Department, announcing Saturday that same-sex spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other, should be eligible to file for bankruptcy jointly and are entitled to the same rights and privileges as federal prison inmates in opposite-sex marriages. The Justice Department runs a number of benefits programs, and Holder says same-sex couples will qualify for them. They include the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and benefits to surviving spouses of public safety officers who suffer catastrophic or fatal injuries...

The federal government will soon treat married same-sex couples the same as heterosexual couples when they file for bankruptcy, testify in court or visit family in prison. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was preparing to issue policies aimed at eliminating the distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex married couples in the federal criminal justice system, according to excerpts from a speech prepared for a Saturday event organized by a prominent gay-rights group. “In every courthouse, in every proceeding and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States, they will strive...

US Attorney General Eric Holder praised Sweden as a "champion of human rights" in a speech at the Riksdag on Tuesday during the first-ever visit to Sweden by the United States' top legal official. 'I'm thankful to be US ambassador to Sweden' (28 Nov 13) 'Obama was genuinely happy to be in Sweden' (05 Sep 13) Live Blog: Barack Obama's visit to Sweden (04 Sep 13) "I have repeatedly seen the significant, positive difference that Swedish engagement brings to the international stage," Holder told the gathered audience of politicians, dignitaries, and representatives from various human rights groups in Sweden. Holder,...

The gay marriage fight arrived in a Southern courtroom Tuesday, as opponents of a Virginia law banning same-sex unions told a federal judge it was just like the Jim Crow-era prohibition against interracial marriage. Supporters maintained there was no fundamental right to gay marriage and the ban exists as part of the state’s interest in responsible procreation. “We have marriage laws in society because we have children, not because we have adults,” said attorney David Nimocks, of the religious group Alliance Defending Freedom. The case is being closely watched because it could give the gay marriage movement its first foothold...

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Paris and Lyon Sunday to protest against France’s legalization of gay marriage and defend their interpretation of traditional family values, which brought together conservatives from across France. Ahead of the protest, some 1,500 police officers were deployed in Paris and 600 in the central city of Lyon, according to Reuters. The Interior minister, Manuel Valls, warned that any violence towards the police would be dealt with severely. RT’s Peter Oliver reported from Paris that the protests are the latest in a wave of unrest which has been spreading though France....

Liberal federal judges who have ruled against state laws barring same-sex “marriages,” essentially arguing that there is no biological evidence to support the idea of marriage between a man and a woman, “need some basic plumbing lessons,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), himself a former state district judge for Texas’s 7th judicial district and chief justice of Texas’s 12th Court of Appeals. […] In the Oklahoma case on Jan. 14, U.S. District Judge Terence C. Kern ruled that “Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.” (Kern was nominated to his...

OKLAHOMA CITY - State lawmakers are considering throwing out marriage in Oklahoma. The idea stems from a bill filed by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Edmond). Turner says it's an attempt to keep same-sex marriage illegal in Oklahoma while satisfying the U.S. Constitution. Critics are calling it a political stunt while supporters say it's what Oklahomans want. "[My constituents are] willing to have that discussion about whether marriage needs to be regulated by the state at all," Turner said. Other conservative lawmakers feel the same way, according to Turner. "Would it be realistic for the State of Oklahoma to say, ‘We're not...

PARK CITY -- The Sundance premiere for Ryan White and Ben Cotner's Proposition 8 documentary The Case Against 8 at Temple Theatre on Saturday afternoon drew one of the most enthusiastic audience responses of the festival to date. OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDS Sundance: Zach Braff Was Warned 'People Will Go Apes--t' Over Kickstarter Campaign Sundance: Kristen Stewart on 'Camp X-Ray's' Haunted Set, Meeting Robert Redford (Video) Daily Warm Up: Aaron Paul Talks Sundance Drama 'Hellion,' 'Breaking Bad' Spinoff Sundance at 30: Vintage Photos of Park City's Biggest Stars Lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies, who successfully fought to overturn California's Proposition...

The U.S. government has awarded permanent residency to the gay Mexican husband of a Coral Gables man, nearly two years after they wed in Washington, D.C, and seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court abolished a portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. “I’m very excited and very relieved,” said Daniel Zavala, 28, who applied for a green card shortly after he and Yohandel Ruiz, a Cuban-born American citizen, married May 1, 2012. “We feel like we finished the process and got what we’re looking for. We’re going on with our lives as a regular couple.” The couple had...

Oklahoma's gay marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern handed down the ruling in a lawsuit filed by two same-sex couples. Kern immediately stayed his ruling pending appeals, meaning gay marriages won't happen in Oklahoma right away. The gay couples had sued for the right to marry and to have a marriage from another jurisdiction recognized in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma ruling comes about a month after a federal judge in Utah overturned that state's ban on same-sex marriage. Hundreds of couples got married there before the U.S. Supreme Court intervened,...

The Supreme Court has put gay marriage on hold in Utah. The high court on Monday granted the state a stay in their same-sex marriage challenge. The decision comes after a federal judge last month ruled in favor of gay marriage.

Utah took its fight against gay marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking the high court to suspend same-sex unions that became legal when a judge struck down the state’s voter-approved ban. The heavily Mormon state wants the marriages to stop while it appeals a judge’s decision, which said banning gay couples from marrying violates their right to equal treatment under the law. In papers filed Tuesday, the state asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor to overturn a decision that has led to more than 900 gay marriages in Utah. Sotomayor handles emergency requests from Utah and other Rocky Mountain...

The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of same-sex couples, granting them all the same rights of marriage enjoyed by heterosexual couples. The court’s 31-page opinion states, in part, that: “All rights, protections, and responsibilities that result from the marital relationship shall apply equally to both same-gender and opposite-gender married couples.” ... Read the opinion:

Although the Republican Party Platform opposes abortion and homosexual marriage, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which provides funds to GOP candidates, is providing money to two Republican candidates who are homosexual, and who support gay marriage and abortion. One of the candidates, Carl DeMaio, has also received $15,000 from the political arm of House GOP leaders Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), meanwhile, has spoken out and said that individual House members can contribute directly to candidates, but dues that he and other members pay to the NRCC should not necessarily go...

Workers in civil partnerships are entitled to the same benefits as married couples, the European Court of Justice has ruled, in a case that could have a profound impact on employment contracts and welfare regimes across the bloc. In a judgment on Thursday (12 December), the Luxembourg-based court found that denying equal rights to benefits amounted to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. The ruling comes in response to a case lodged in 2012 by Frederic Hay, a French bank worker with Credit Agricole. Hay brought the case after being denied extra days of leave and a salary bonus...