Civil Rights Project News
RI Gov Chafee Issues Order for State Agencies to Recognize Marriages of Same-sex Couples
Today Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee (I) issued an executive order directing state agencies to recognize the marriages of the state’s same-sex couples, in compliance with established Rhode Island marriage recognition law. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) commended the action and …
GLAD Responds to President Obama’s Support for the Freedom to Marry for Same-Sex Couples
The following statement is from Mary Bonauto, the director of the Civil Rights Project at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD):
“President Obama has travelled a road that many Americans have travelled in recent years. Gay and lesbian couples have the same love and make the same commitment …
CT High Courts Says Employers Can be Liable for Anti-Gay Harassment
GLAD and the Connecticut Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) applaud a May 4 ruling from the Connecticut Supreme Court that employers can be liable if they fail to protect employees from harassment based on sexual orientation. In Patino v. Birken Manufacturing Company (Docket No. 18441), the …
GLAD Hails Landmark Ruling in Surrogacy Case
Addressing the issue of parentage in gestational surrogate births for the first time, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on May 3 ruled that District Courts have the authority under current law to determine who a child’s parents are when the child is conceived through procedures like in vitro …
Federal Court Hears First Appellate Arguments Challenging DOMA
For the first time, a Federal Appeals Court heard arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Seven married same-sex couples and three widowers, plaintiffs in GLAD’s case Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the …
GLAD Argues One Spouse At A Time Rule Applies to Civil Unions As Well As Marriages
In a case involving a man who married in Massachusetts without dissolving his Vermont civil union to a different man, GLAD will argue before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) that the marriage should be considered void.
“It has always been the law of the Commonwealth that a person …
GLAD Applauds Marriage Equality Victory in New Hampshire
GLAD today cheered the vote of the New Hampshire legislature today to (reject HB437, a repeal of the state’s marriage equality law. By a vote of 211-116, New Hampshire lawmakers outright voted down HB437.
“Today’s victory affirmed the equality of New Hampshire’s gay and lesbian citizens,” said …
Advocates Announce Ballot Campaign For Marriage
Photo: boxes of signed petitions supporting the marriage ballot initiative
Augusta – Today, advocates for allowing same-sex couples to legally marry in Maine announced plans for a Citizens Initiative to enact a marriage equality law, delivering more than 105,000 signatures from Maine voters who …
Business, Labor, Congressional Reps, Medical and Legal Experts Take Aim at DOMA
(Photo: Plaintiff Dean Hara with his late spouse, Rep Gerry Studds)
Supporters of Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, GLAD’s challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), have filed 11 amici curiae briefs in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The amici briefs (which …
GLAD Defends its Win in Gill Case and Attacks BLAG’s Justifications for DOMA
GLAD has filed another vigorous attack on the constitutionality of the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA). In a legal brief submitted to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, GLAD defended an earlier District Court ruling finding DOMA unconstitutional. GLAD’s brief counters the …