North Carolina voters have approved a state constitutional amendment that bans not only marriage for same-sex couples, but also any form of relationship recognition. The state already banned marriage for same-sex couples by statute; putting it into the state constitution makes it harder to challenge.
Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of how far we’ve come. In 1995, Floridian Mary Ward lost custody of their daughter to her ex-husband, even though he had been absent from the girl’s life for six years—and been convicted of murdering his first wife in a custody dispute. Why did the judge not award custody to Ward? She was a lesbian. Now, a new documentary tells the sobering story of the case.
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) has just announced the publication of Transgender Family Law: A Guide to Effective Advocacy, “the first book to comprehensively address legal issues facing transgender people in the family law context and provide practitioners the tools to effectively represent transgender clients.”
This week’s quote comes from Catherine Couvert, a lesbian mom in Northern Ireland, who addresses her country’s failure to move ahead with a proposal allowing joint adoption by same-sex and unmarried couples.
Marriage inequality harms children. Obvious to most readers here, I imagine—but the right-wing has long owned the “best interests of the children” argument in advertising and media. Now, however, one LGBT advocacy coalition is taking back that argument, in hopes of defeating yet another state constitutional ban on marriage for same-sex couples, this time Amendment One in North Carolina. See their new ad after the jump.
Today is the deadline for filing 2011 U.S. tax returns. In a timely piece, Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida (and a mom to the adorable boy who met First Lady Michelle Obama recently), writes about federal tax inequality for same-sex couples. She gives us our quote of the week:
The Defense of Marriage Act faces a federal appeals court; a pro-marriage equality initiative advances in Ohio; Chile passes an antidiscrimination measure, and more.
In a move that may shake up this year’s presidential race, suburban lesbian mom Jess Jo King has announced her intention to run for president on the 2012 ballot.
The White House photostream now includes a photo of First Lady Michelle Obama with Andrea and Logan Smith (10 months). Andrea is the executive director of Green Florida and wife of Equality Florida executive director Nadine Smith—and their son is absolutely adorable. (It’s all about the cheeks. Or maybe the eyes. Total cuteness either way.)
Many of us have been in this situation: Returning to the U.S. from a family vacation abroad, we stand in the customs line with partner and kid(s), only to be separated when it is our turn and the customs agent only allows “one family at a time”—meaning “only one federally recognized family.” Suddenly, all of our vacation relaxation is gone.
That will soon change.
