Lesbian mother appeals Alabama adoption decision
A lesbian parent in Alabama asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to review her case after Alabama judges refused to recognize her adoption that was granted in another state. The woman, known in court filings by her initials V.L, petitioned the high court to step in. She said the Alabama decision prohibits her from seeing the children she helped raise. Cathy Sakimura, of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called the Alabama decision “terrifying” and said it illustrates the continued legal challenges facing gay and lesbian parents. She said the Alabama court had no legal authority to second-guess the decision of the Georgia court that had granted the adoption. “As a result of that serious constitutional violation, the children in this case have been wrongly separated from one of their parents, and the stability of adoption judgments across the country has been called into question,” Sakimura said. The woman and her former partner had three children, who were conceived with sperm donor assistance, during their 16-year relationship. A Georgia court in 2007 approved V.L.’s adoption of the children that her partner gave birth to. However, the Alabama Supreme Court in September struck down the woman’s visitation rights and ruled the adoption invalid, saying the Georgia court was wrong under that state’s adoption laws to grant it. The Alabama justices said “Georgia law makes no provision for a non-spouse to adopt a child without first terminating the parental rights of the current parents.” Sakimura said her client helped raise the children, now ages 10 to 12, since their births, but isn’t allowed to see the children because of the court decision. Her ex-partner fought her visitation saying the couple lived in Alabama, but only rented a home in Georgia because they believed the court there to be friendlier to adoption petitions by gay couples. The Alabama Supreme Court earlier this year directed probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples even though a federal judge ruled the state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. The directive brought a stop to the weddings until the U.S. Supreme Court said gay and lesbian people have a fundamental right to marry. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
LGBT rights bill to get public hearing in state Senate
An Alabama Senate committee is planning to hear from the public on a bill to offer employment protections for the LGBT community. Senate Bill 482 would ban state officials from discriminating against employees based on sexuality and gender expression, in addition to of race, ethnicity, or religion. The bill does not apply to private sector employers. Sen. President Pro Tem Del Marsh, said that he sees the LGBT rights bill as an economic development issue after hearing concerns from businesses considering moving to Alabama. “We want to dispel any thoughts that we’re not a state that protects all people,” Marsh said. Dispelling that perception, according to Sen. Marsh, means that a proposal to give officiants the right to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies may not pass the Senate. “What I do not want to do is have a perception that Alabama is attacking any group,” Marsh told reporters after the committee meeting. “I don’t expect those other bills to come to the floor.” Marsh also said timing would be a factor in getting any measures on LGBT discrimination passed this session. Senate Bill 482 was introduced Tuesday and the Senate Governmental Affairs committee met Thursday to discuss the bill. Sen. Dick Brewbaker said the quick turnaround leaves little time for concerns from both sides to be properly considered. “People who want to have a say didn’t get notice,” he said. “We have to let people have their say.” He later added, “The committee can vote with 48 hours notice. There’s no need to wait until next Wednesday.” Brewbaker and others also expressed concern about the language in the bill, saying that the state could not offer protections to state employees, but not recognize protections for employees in the private sector. The narrow scope could mean that Senate Bill 482 is unconstitutional, according to Sen. Phil Williams. “You can’t separate classes,” said Brewbaker. “You can offer protections to state employees and not another.” Another bill in the House would apply to all employers. House Bill 615 sponsored by Rep. Chris England is in the House judiciary committee and has not been scheduled for a vote.
What’s at stake in U.S. Supreme Court gay marriage arguments
Just two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal anti-gay marriage law that denied a range of government benefits to legally married same-sex couples. The decision in United States v. Windsor did not address the validity of state marriage bans, but courts across the country, with few exceptions, said its logic compelled them to invalidate state laws that prohibited gay and lesbian couples from marrying. The number of states allowing same-sex marriage has grown rapidly. As recently as October, a little more than one-third of the states permitted same-sex marriage. Now, same-sex couples can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. A look at what is now before the Supreme Court, and the status of same-sex marriage around the country: • • • What’s left for the Supreme Court to do amid all this change? The justices on Tuesday are hearing extended arguments, scheduled to run 2½ hours, in highly anticipated cases about the right of same-sex couples to marry. The cases before the court come from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, all of which had their marriage bans upheld by the federal appeals court in Cincinnati in November. That appeals court is the only one that has ruled in favor of the states since the 2013 Windsor decision. • • • What’s at stake? Two related issues would expand the marriage rights of same-sex couples. The bigger one: Do same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry or can states continue to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman? The second: Even if states won’t allow some couples to marry, must they recognize valid same-sex marriages from elsewhere? • • • What are the main arguments on each side? The arguments of marriage-rights supporters boil down to a claim that states lack any valid reason to deny the right to marry, which the court has earlier described as fundamental to the pursuit of happiness. They say state laws that allow only some people to marry violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law and make second-class citizens of same-sex couples and their families. Same-sex couples say that preventing them from marrying is akin to a past ban on interracial marriage, which the Supreme Court struck down in 1967. The states respond that they have always set the rules for marriage and that voters in many states have backed, sometimes overwhelmingly, changes to their constitutions to limit marriage to a man and a woman. They say a lively national debate is underway and there is no reason for courts to impose a solution that should be left to the political process. The states also argue that they have a good reason to keep defining marriage as they do. Because only heterosexual couples can produce children, it is in the states’ interest to make marriage laws that encourage those couples to enter a union that supports raising children. • • • Is the Obama administration playing a role? The administration is backing the right of same-sex couples to marry, although its argument differs in one respect. The plaintiffs say that the state laws should fall, no matter what standard the court applies. The administration calls for more rigorous scrutiny than courts ordinarily apply to most laws, saying it is appropriate when governments discriminate against a group of people. That already is the case for claims that laws discriminate on the basis of race, sex and other factors. But the administration is silent about what the outcome should be if the court does not give gays the special protection it has afforded women and minorities. The Justice Department’s decision to stop defending the federal anti-marriage law in 2011 was an important moment for gay rights and President Barack Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage in 2012. • • • What happens if the court strikes down the state bans? A ruling that same-sex couples have a right to marry would invalidate the remaining anti-gay marriage laws in the country. If the court limits its ruling to requiring states to recognize same-sex unions, couples in states without same-sex marriage presumably could get married elsewhere and then demand recognition at home. • • • What happens if the court rules for the states on both questions? The bans in 14 states would survive. Beyond that, confusion probably would reign. Some states that had their marriage laws struck down by federal courts might seek to reinstate prohibitions on gay and lesbian unions. Questions also could be raised about the validity of some same-sex weddings. Many of these problems would be of the Supreme Court’s own making. • • • Why is that? From October to January, the justices first rejected appeals from states seeking to preserve their marriage bans, then allowed court rulings to take effect even as other states appealed those decisions. The result is that the court essentially allowed the number of states with same-sex marriage to double. • • • Where is same-sex marriage legal? Same-sex couples can marry in 36 states, the District of Columbia and parts of Missouri. More than 500 marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples in Alabama this year after a federal court struck down the state’s ban. But probate judges have not issued any more licenses to gay and lesbian couples since the Alabama Supreme Court ordered a halt to same-sex unions in early March. Gay and lesbian couples may not marry in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, most of Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. • • • How many same-sex couples are there in the U.S.? Gary Gates, an expert at UCLA’s Williams Institute on the demography of gays and lesbians in the U.S., estimated that there were 350,000 married same-sex couples as of February. Gates relied on Gallup Inc. survey data and Census Bureau information to arrive at his estimate. That’s just 0.3 percent of the nation’s 242 million adults, Gates said.
