Blog Posts for Federal
Happy Anniversary! 9 Years of Marriage Equality
As we celebrate the anniversary of marriage in Massachusetts, it’s inspiring and encouraging to know that more and more Americans are coming around to supporting the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.
DOMA and Taxes: Filing Now and Preserving Your Rights
If DOMA is overturned and you are in the process of appealing a previous tax return, you may be eligible to receive a refund on the extra taxes you paid. The IRS allows you to file amended income tax returns up to three years after the original return was filed. For example, in most cases you can still file an amended return for the 2009 tax year provided the IRS receives it before this April’s filing deadline. Read on for more information from our Legal InfoLine Manager, Bruce Bell.
When Love Doesn’t Make a Family
This week, GLAD, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and NCLR’s National Family Law Advisory Council released a revised version of Protecting Families: Standards for LGBT Families, a set of 10 guidelines aimed at reminding LGBT people how important it is to legally protect the families they create and to caution parents against wielding anti-LGBT laws against their partner should their relationship break-up. Basically, we’re calling on the members of our community—and their lawyers—to fight fairly and to do their best to avoid damaging custody disputes. As GLAD’s Mary Bonauto writes in her introduction to the standards, “We believe that, even in the midst of the emotional upheaval that inevitably accompanies the end of the adult relationship, families can do a great deal to resolve their differences in a manner that puts their children first.”
Just the Facts, Maggie
When the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution held an April 15 hearing called “Defending Marriage,” we knew it would not be a friendly forum. Although the focus of the hearing was on the Justice Department’s decision not to defend DOMA, Chairman Trent Franks called Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage as the principal witness rather than anyone from the Department of Justice. Ms. Gallagher’s written testimony begged for a written response, and GLAD submitted its rebuttal last week, which will now be entered into the Congressional Record.
It’s Tax Time: Good News/Bad News
It’s everyone’s favorite time of year. At least there is some good news for transgender tax payers this year. But still the same bad news for married same sex couples.
Know Your Rights: What is ‘heightened scrutiny’ and why is it important?
Courts have found that laws that discriminate against certain groups of people are more likely to reflect prejudice against that group than they are good public policy. Rather than being assumed to be constitutional, such laws need to be justified with exceptionally good reasons. This is called “heightened scrutiny” and has, for example, been used in cases where a racial group is being discriminated against. GLAD has consistently argued in the courts that sexual orientation deserves “heightened scrutiny.” So it was an enormous breakthrough last week when the President and the Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed with GLAD on that point- and because of that also agreed that DOMA is unconstitutional.
Something On Which GLAD & NOM Agree! Courts Have a Role to Play in the Real World
On the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) announcement last week that it would no longer defend DOMA against legal challenges by GLAD and other organizations, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) issued an action alert urging members to immediately call their congressional reps to demand they defend the odious law.
“It’s a constitutional outrage,” NOM President Brian Brown wrote in the alert. “Why do we even have courts if the President himself gets to decide which laws are constitutional?” (Emphasis added).
Know Your Rights: DOJ Decides DOMA Is Unconsitutional, But DOMA Continues To Be Enforced
Given the breaking news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will no longer defend Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), I wanted to let you know what that really means to the two lawsuits GLAD currently has in the federal courts trying to overturn DOMA—Gill and Pedersen .
Know Your Rights: An Introduction to GLAD’s Legal InfoLine
Legal InfoLine Manager Bruce Bell begins a regular weekly blog post today.
Debriefing the briefs in Gill: Colorful cast of characters aligns with DOJ in support of DOMA
As in politics, court cases sometimes make strange bedfellows. The pairing of Bush v. Gore rivals Ted Olson and David Boies on the legal challenge to California’s Prop. 8 is an obvious example. Now, there’s Barack Obama and Gary G. Kreep. Who is Gary G. Kreep, you ask? For starters, he’s the amicus counsel for the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuals, otherwise known as NARTH. The organization is one of 17 entities that filed amicus briefs in support of the Obama Administration’s appeal in Gill v. OPM, one of our two lawsuits challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).