New York's Case moves forward

(New York, August 8, 2005)— Today, Lambda Legal filed papers in the Appellate Division, First Department (the state’s middle court) to defend a lower court ruling that said same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in New York. The City filed an appeal seeking to overturn the ruling earlier this spring.

“The City argues that the government has an interest in supporting heterosexuals who have children. But the City doesn’t explain why it’s okay for the government to turn its back on thousands of New York children raised by same-sex couples, who must go without the protections that come with civil marriage,” said Susan Sommer, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal and lead attorney on the case. According to the 2000 Census, there are 46,490 same-sex households in New York, with over 34% of the lesbian couples and 21% of the gay couples raising children in the home.

In the brief filed today, Lambda Legal argued that the trial court was right when it ruled that barring same-sex couples from marriage was unconstitutional and denies them a host of protections that couples who are married enjoy. Lambda Legal argued that the City is wrong in basing its appeal on an outdated case that relied on the Book of Genesis to deny civil marriage rights to same-sex couples.

In her February 4, 2005 trial court ruling, Justice Ling-Cohan wrote that barring “access to civil marriage denies plaintiffs something irreplaceable.” The ruling further stated that, “Similar to opposite-sex couples, same-sex couples are entitled to the same fundamental right to follow their hearts and publicly commit to a lifetime partnership with the person of their choosing.” The lower court’s decision held that gay and lesbian couples are entitled to the liberty to marry the person they love just like all other New Yorkers are free to do.

Over 100 organizations and individuals have filed papers as friends-of-the-court to support Lambda Legal’s arguments, including the New York County Lawyers’ Association, the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, Empire State Pride Agenda, National Organization for Women—New York State, the American Psychological Association and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, among others.

Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit in March 2004 seeking marriage licenses for same-sex couples in New York, arguing that denying them marriage violates the state Constitution’s guarantees of equality, liberty and privacy for all New Yorkers. The trial court issued its ruling in Lambda Legal’s favor in February this year, which New York City decided to appeal. On March 31, New York’s highest court ruled that the case should be heard in the mid-level appeals court, where Lambda currently makes its arguments for marriage equality in the state.

Arguing the case with Susan Sommer for Lambda Legal are Jeffrey S. Trachtman and Norman Simon of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel as co-counsel.

Two excellent commentaries

Rather than waste the bandwidth on two sites, I decided I'd just post the link to my message board here, where you can read two very excellent commentaries.

They can be read here.

Okay, 'splain this to me

(Fort Lauderdale, Florida) In the aftermath of attacks on gays by members of the Broward County School Board's Diversity Committee the board is considering dissolving the committee.

The controversy began when the 19 member committee was considering the use in schools of the video We Are Family that features SpongeBob SquarePants and other cartoon characters.

One member of the committee, Steve Kane, said that gays "are trying to mess with our kids' minds and introduce all kinds of activities in the name of tolerance.'' Kane, a local conservative radio talk show host has resigned. (story)

But, he was not the only member to condemn gays.

Rev. Katy Peterson, of the Palm Beach Gardens Metropolitan Community Church said other anti-gay committee members "take the School Board's thoughtfully crafted and progressive diversity policy and use it for toilet paper."

Peterson and other LGBT community leaders are calling for the committee to be shut down.

"I think we're all in agreement about that," Board Chairwoman Stephanie Kraft told the Sun Sentinel newspaper.

But, it may not be as easy as just passing a motion to disband the committee.

School Board lawyers warn that the Diversity Committee was created several years ago as part of a settlement of a discrimination lawsuit. Terminating it could be in violation of that agreement.

Instead, the Board may decided to leave the committee intact but suspend future meetings. But, that too, say the attorneys, could result in the board being taken back to court.

Kraft said that a final decision will be made in September.

1. This is a DIVERSITY committee. Who selected this committee in the first place, Anita Bryant?
2. If the entire committee is attacking gays, then it's not a diversity committee, it's a hate forum.
3. If they don't want to serve on the committee because they have to review this sort of thing, can someone explain the concept of resignation to them?

Is it just me, or does this whole thing just seem terribly stupid?

Truth or the Religous Right?

I posted this article on my blog a couple of weeks ago. It's been revealed, recently, that the Reverend Willie violated the ninth commandment by bearing false witness to his followers, in order to promote hate and bigotry against the gay and lesbian community. But then again, does this really surprise anyone?

Give the article a read, especially the comments from the student body where this jerk's son goes to school. Then note the tapdance his daughter does around the issue, toward the end of the article.

Like we'd WANT this guy on our side!

(Chicago, Illinois) The head of an Illinois group fighting same-sex marriage and partner benefits says he wonders if militant anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps is actually a gay plant.

Phelps who runs the God Hates Fags website and whose followers regularly demonstrate at gay friendly churches first came to national attention when he protested at the funeral Matthew Shepard.

Since then conservative Christian groups have been mostly silent but now, the Phelps clan is picketing at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. (story)

The group had threatened to demonstrate last weekend at the funeral of Gunnery Sgt. Terry W. Ball in East Peoria but did not show up. Nevertheless, on Monday, Illinois Family Institute Executive Director Peter LaBarbera issued a statement denouncing Phelps.

"Fred Phelps' curious message is hardly Christian, and only fuels societal bigotry toward those who espouse genuine Biblical views on social issues like homosexuality and abortion," LaBarbera's statement said.

"Of all the potential targets for their protests, they have chosen funeral services where the bereaved are mourning the loss of loved ones. It is hard to conceive of a more inflammatory presentation of a false Gospel than his."

LaBarbera went on to say: "Politically and culturally speaking, Phelps and his protesters serve as a crude caricature of pro-family traditionalists who oppose the normalization of homosexuality. Fred makes an easy target for the media and secularists who are tempted (partly by their own prejudices) to paint any opposition to 'gay rights' as hateful. For this reason, I have sometimes wondered if Phelps and his lawyerly clan are 'gay plants.'"

But, despite denouncing Phelps, the Illinois Family Institute is actively involved in a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage, has fought legislation to provide civil rights protections for gays and lesbians and earlier this month demanded that the Illinois Bureau of Tourism refuse to give public funds to the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago. (story) The Chicago organizer of the event, Chicago Games Inc., has submitted an application for promotion money.

Don't know about any of you other gays, lesbians, bi's or trannies out there, but I sure as hell don't think this guy supports our cause in the least -- if anything, he gives the religious right a black eye on a daily basis. But then again, perhaps LaBarbera knows that and is trying to do a bit of damage control...

"It Just Ain't Natural!"

OK, for all of you naysayers who say that homosexuality is a choice, read this article and then explain to me how animals, who were not given the gift of free will by the creator, "chose" homosexuality and "hedonism" over heterosexuality. Oh, I know, I know, you'll scoff and just call this "junk science" when you can't come up with actual facts to dispute these findings, right?

(New York City) Gay rams in Corvallis, Oregon, lesbian swans in Boston, and gay penguins at several zoos around the world - they may shock conservative Christian groups fighting gay rights but for scientists they offer an insight into the origins and development of human sexuality.

Researchers at Oregon State University have found that about eight percent of rams are gay. The scientists, at the university along with those at the Oregon Health & Science University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sheep Experiment Station, say that the finding may prove sexuality in general, and homosexuality in particular, may be biologically driven.

In rams who prefer to mount other rams, the anterior preoptic area of the hypothalamus was about half the size of this part of the brain in heterosexual rams, the researchers say in a new report.

"This was exciting to us because this area of the brain has been found in many species to regulate sexual behavior," Fred Stormshak, a distinguished professor of animal science at Oregon State and an investigator on the project, told The Gazette-Times of Corvallis on the weekend.

The investigation also targeted aromatase activity in the hypothalamus. Aromatase is an enzyme that converts androgens such as testosterone into estrogens such as estradiol. In male mammals, estrogen causes masculinization of the brain during gestation.

The researchers hypothesize that low levels of aromatase in the brain of the developing fetus "somehow keep it from becoming fully masculinized."

The news comes as Boston Parks officials disclosed that Romeo and Juliet, the famed pair of white swans in the Pubic Garden, are really two females.

The manicured Garden that adjoins the Boston Common, in the city's downtown, is a tourist favorite and the swans over the years have become so popular the city added swan boats to lure more tourists to the area.

Last year, the most recent pair of real swans were purchased as chicks from a breeder.

As they grew the swans settled down together in domestic bliss. The parks people found eggs in their nest. But, they never hatched.

After doing some scientific tests they discovered the eggs had not been fertilized and more tests revealed Romeo was really a girl.

The revelation has stirred a debate in the only state where gay marriage is legal over whether Romeo should be renamed to properly reflect her true sex.

The Boston Globe put the question to people in the Public Garden yesterday.

''If these two swans are happy together, they shouldn't have to have a guy," said Emma Stokien, a 15-year-old from New York. ''It's good to have the swans as a symbol of the acceptance in Massachusetts."

Zoos in three countries have gay penguins. There are three gay couples at the Bremerhaven Zoo in Germany. There are about 20 same-sex pairs at 16 major aquariums and zoos in Japan. But, two gay penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York broke up last year.

Roy and Silo, had been together for several years. They even put a rock simulating an egg in their nest and sat on it, keeping it warm in the folds of their abdomens. After they broke up, Roy for a while spent time with a female penguin but that that did not last long, and now the Roy and Silo live separately.

Animal sexuality is a relatively new field. The first book on the subject, Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape, unleashed a torrent of condemnation for the Christian right.

In 1999, Bruce Bagemihl published Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity. It provided an overview of scholarly studies of same-sex behavior in animals. Bagemihl said homosexual behavior had been documented in some 450 species.

The book was cited by the American Psychiatric Association and other groups in a "friend of the court" brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, the case in which the court overturned sodomy laws.