Brazilian Judicial Panel Clears Way For Same-Sex Marriages

The decision of the National Council of Justice could be appealed to the Supreme Court. Same-sex couples in some parts of the country already can marry, but this decision would apply nationwide. ...

BuzzFeed • May 14, 2013

Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down California Anti-Gay Marriage Ban

The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court Thursday to declare that it was unconstitutional for California to pass an amendment in 2008 excluding same-sex couples from marriage -- a dramatic turnaround from just four years ago, when the White House defended the federal law that bans recognition of such marriages....

BuzzFeed • Mar 1, 2013

Nearly 300 Employers Tell Supreme Court To Dump DOMA

Nearly 300 employers -- from private businesses to cities to law firms and professional organizations -- filed a brief with the Supreme Court Wednesday urging the court to hold that the Defense of Marriage Act's federal definition of marriage be found unconstitutional....

BuzzFeed • Feb 28, 2013

Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down DOMA

The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act's prohibition on recognition of same-sex couples' marriages in a Friday filing, arguing that laws that target gay people should face additional scrutiny by courts reviewing them....

BuzzFeed • Feb 25, 2013

Pentagon Announces Expansion Of Benefits To Same-Sex Couples

The Department of Defense will be extending certain benefits to same-sex couples in the military, a move announced in a memorandum by Secretary Leon Panetta -- a final punctuation mark to the outgoing defense secretary's tenure at the Pentagon....

BuzzFeed • Feb 11, 2013

Charlie Morgan, Servicemember Who Fought Cancer And DOMA, Dies

Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan died Sunday of breast cancer, after having fought both the disease and the impact the Defense of Marriage Act would have on her wife, Karen, in the public light in recent years....

BuzzFeed • Feb 11, 2013

Supreme Court-Appointed Lawyer Argues DOMA Case Cannot Be Heard

Harvard law professor argues the Obama administration's decision to stop defending the law in 2011 means the Supreme Court can't hear the case. House Republican leaders cannot take the administration's place, the lawyer also argues....

BuzzFeed • Jan 25, 2013

House Republicans Slam Administration For "Attacking" DOMA

The House Republican leadership Tuesday filed a brief in the Supreme Court urging the Supreme Court to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act as constitutional, arguing that the Obama administration "abdicated its duty to defend DOMA's constitutionality" in February 2011 and instead started "attacking" the law in court....

BuzzFeed • Jan 22, 2013

Proposition 8 Supporters Tell Supreme Court To Keep Marriage Ban

Arguing that the case brought by same-sex couples seeking to marry was unlike past gay rights cases where the court struck down anti-gay restrictions and also unlike Loving v. Virginia, in which the court struck down bans on interracial marriage, the proponents of Proposition 8 argue that there is no historic reason "for invalidating marriage as it has existed in California for virtually all of it...

BuzzFeed • Jan 22, 2013

White House: Obama Still Thinks Gay Marriage Is A State Issue

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney repeated Tuesday that while President Barack Obama is personally supportive of civil gay marriages, he doesn't believe it should be a federal issue....

BuzzFeed • Jan 22, 2013

Montana Supreme Court Rejects Broad Equal Benefits Claim By Gay Couples

The Montana Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, rejected a request by six same-sex couples to be given equal benefits to married opposite-sex couples in the state because the couples' argument that the state's entire "statutory scheme" should be found unconstitutional was too broad of a request. ...

BuzzFeed • Dec 17, 2012

San Francisco Asks Court For "Advance Notice" On New Weddings

The city asked for the notice in a letter from Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese M. Stewart to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. Concerned about being "deluged by same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses" and "large gatherings, including protesters" after a ruling that would allow same-sex couples to once again marry in California, Stewart asked for the 24-hour notice so the city c...

BuzzFeed • Nov 28, 2012

Same-Sex Couples' Supreme Court Fate Set For Nov. 20

The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider whether it will hear cases challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8 on Nov. 20, according to a series of announcements on Monday on the Supreme Court's dockets. ...

BuzzFeed • Oct 29, 2012

Romney Campaign Clarifies, Still Supports Federal Marriage Amendment

Senior campaign adviser Bay Buchanan said last week that the candidate supports states' choices. This afternoon, though, she told BuzzFeed he still supports the amendment proposal....

BuzzFeed • Oct 23, 2012

Romney White House Would Immediately Face Marriage Issue

The federal government's current position, argued in court by the Department of Justice, is that DOMA's Section 3 is unconstitutional. The defense of the law has since been taken up by the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), which is controlled 3-2 by the House Republican leadership. If Romney wins, the Department of Justice would be overseen by an attorney general picked by Romney after...

BuzzFeed • Oct 16, 2012

Supreme Court May Push Marriage Cases Until After Election

Several cases involving recognition of same-sex couples' relationships initially had been scheduled to be considered at the Supreme Court's first conference of the new term on Sept. 24, including the challenge to Proposition 8 and one of the challenges to DOMA's federal definition of "marriage" and "spouse" as limited only to one man and one woman. But their consideration on Sept. 24 appears to be...

BuzzFeed • Sep 24, 2012

Out Gay Former Rep. Kolbe Predicts 2016 Platform Won't Support Anti-Marriage Amendment

Former Rep. Jim Kolbe, who represented Arizona in Congress until 2007 and was the second out gay Republican to serve in Congress, predicted on Monday that this will be the last time the Republican Party's platform will endorse amending the U.S. Constitution to stop states from recognizing same-sex couples' marriages. ...

BuzzFeed • Aug 28, 2012

GOP Votes Down Civil Unions In Platform

A handful of other members rose up to oppose the measure, which failed as opponents raised their voices to loudly say "no." About a dozen members of the more than 100 delegates in the room voted in favor. ...

BuzzFeed • Aug 21, 2012

Supreme Court Delays DOMA Deadline

The Supreme Court Monday granted a request by House Republican leaders to delay until Aug. 31 the deadline for when they need to tell the Supreme Court their view of whether it should take two challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act in its upcoming term. This Thursday was supposed to be the deadline for parties to respond to the three outstanding requests -- one made by the House Republican lead...

BuzzFeed • Jul 31, 2012

Federal Trial Court In Connecticut Strikes Down DOMA's Marriage Definition

In sum, having considered the purported rational bases proffered by both BLAG and Congress and concluded that such objectives bear no rational relationship to Section 3 of DOMA as a legislative scheme, the Court finds that no conceivable rational basis exists for the provision. The provision therefore violates the equal protection principles incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the United States...

BuzzFeed • Jul 31, 2012