A relatively slow week for pure political news, though the decisions by the Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches have political dimensions.
- The Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military discovered a Pentagon document of retirement and discharge policies that classifies homosexuality with mental disorders, despite mental health experts abandoning that view decades ago. A Pentagon spokesperson says the policy is “under review.”
- In Pennsylvania, the state Senate approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but left provision for civil unions and other “functional equivalents” of marriage. The state House had earlier passed a ban, but without the civil union provision. Because the Senate and House bills differ, they must decide on common language before leaving for the summer, or they will miss the deadline for a ballot question in either ’07 or ’08. Without voter approval of a ballot, the constitution cannot be amended. The Philadelphia Daily News has a good explanation of the procedural details, and why the current situation means the bill is likely dead.
And three upcoming rulings:
- The Georgia Supreme Court will rule within days on the legality of the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
- In Massachusetts, the Suffolk Superior Court will rule Monday on whether same-sex couples from New York and Rhode Island can marry in Massachusetts. An earlier decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court said the state could use a 1913 law to ban same-sex couples from marrying in Massachusetts if same-sex marriage is illegal in their home states. The court left open the status of couples from New York and Rhode Island, saying the Superior Court needed to rule on it.
- In New York itself, the state’s highest court is expected to rule on same-sex marriage before its July 1 recess.