- The law firm hired to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has withdrawn from its contract to do so, but the lawyer who was to take the case has left the firm and plans to defend it from elsewhere.
- On the other hand, the Senate committee considering a bill to repeal DOMA may just have the votes.
- Yes on 8, the group supporting California’s Proposition 8 ban on marriage for same-sex couples, filed a motion to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker’s federal district court ruling that overturned the ban, saying he should have recused himself because he is gay.
- The Minnesota legislature is considering bills that would ask voters in 2012 to approve a measure making marriage of same-sex couples unconstitutional.
- The Nevada state Senate approved bills that would outlaw discrimination on the basis of gender identity in housing and public accommodations, but a measure that would have made attacks based on gender identity or expression into hate crimes failed.
- Marriage equality is off the table this year in Rhode Island. House Speaker Gordon Fox (D) said there was not support to pass a bill in either chamber, and he will instead support a civil union bill.
- A bill pending in the Texas legislature could bar transgender people from marriage and could nullify existing ones.
Around the world:
- India’s Supreme Court has delayed hearing appeals of a lower court ruling that struck down the nation’s ban on gay sex.
