DOMES TIC
National News
by David Stout. Q-Notes staff
Gay marriage victory: Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa — On April 3, the
Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck
down the 1998 state ban on marriage for
same-sex couples. The ruling recognized that
the constitutional guarantee of equal protec
tion requires that same-sex couples have “full
access to the institution of civil marriage.” The
court further declared that civil unions or
domestic partnerships cannot meet the
demands of full constitutional equality.
Speaking for the seven-member court,
Justice Mark S. Cady wrote, “We are firmly
convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian
people from the institution of civil marriage
does not substantially further any important
governmental objective.”
The case, Varnum v. Brien, began in
December 2005, when Lambda Legal filed suit
in Iowa District Court on behalf of six gay and
lesbian couples (later amended to include
three of their children). In August 2007, the
Iowa District Court ruled that it was unconsti
tutional to deny gay and lesbian couples the
right to marry. The District Court granted a
stay of the decision pending appeal to the
Iowa Supreme Court. The first marriage
licenses for same-sex couples are expected to
be issued on April 24.
Gay marriage victory: Vermont
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont legisla
ture voted April 7 to recognize marriage for
Vermont Senate
President Pro Tern
Peter Shumlin.
same-sex couples. The state Senate voted 23-5
and the House of Representatives voted 100-49
to override Gov. Jim
Douglas’s veto, mak
ing Vermont the first
state to recognize
marriage for commit"-
ted lesbian and gay
couples through the
legislative process.
The laiw goes into
effect Sept. 1.
“The Struve for
equal rights is never
easy. I was proud to be
President of the Senate
nine years ago when
Vermont aeated civil unions,” said Vermont
Senate President Pro Tern Peter Shumlin. “Today
we have overridden the Governor’s veto. I have
never felt more proud of Vermont as we become
the first state in the country to enact marriage
equality not as the result of a court order, but
b^ause it is the right thing to do.”
California’s legislature has twice passed gay
marriage legislation that was subsequently
vetoed and not enacted into law. Vermont is the
fourth state, after Massachusetts, Connecticut
and Iowa, to extend marriage equality to com
mitted lesbian and gay couples.
Presby court rebuffs lesbian
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — On March 25, a
Presbyterian Church regional commission set
aside a vote by the Presbytery of San
Francisco to move an open lesbian forward in
the ordination process. The commission said
the presbytery acted improperly in supporting
Lisa Larges, an openly lesbian candidate for
ministry in the'Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The ruling marks the second time Larges’s
ordination has been stopped by a denomina
tional body. In 1991, the Twin Qties
Presbytery affirmed her call to ministry as an
open lesbian; however, the-dqcision was over
turned the following year by the highest judi
cial court in the Presbyterian Church.
Last year, the Presbyterian Church USA
General Assembly, voted to remove restrictive
language prohibiting lesbian and gay ordination
from the church’s constitution. The 173
Presbyteries are currently voting on this change,
which needs a simple majority for ratification.
Bullied pre-teen commits suicide
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Eleven-year-old
Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hung himself April
6 after enduring bullying at school, including
daily taunts of being gay. According to reports,
the boy’s mother had made weekly pleas to
the school to address the problem. This is at,
least the fourth suicide of a middle-school
aged child linked to bullying this year.
Carl, a junior at New Leadership Charter
School who did not identify as gay, would have
turned 12 on April 17, the same day hundreds of
thousands of students will participate in the
13th annual National Day of Silence by taking
some form of a vow of silence to bring attention
to anti-LGBT bullying and harassment at school.
The boy’s mother, Sirdeaner L. Walker, told
the Springfield Republican, “l( anything can
come of this, it’s that another child doesn’t
have to suffer like this and there can be some
justice for some other child. I don’t want any
other parent to go through this.”
Anti-gay adoption bill dies
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A bill that would have
prohibited adoption or foster parenting by any
person “cohabiting with a sexual partner outside
of a marriage that is valid in Kentuck)^’ died in
the legislature. The Kentucky House of ■
Representatives adjourned without voting on the ■
measure, which had been approved by a Senate
committee and was pending in the Senate when
the legislative session ended March 30.
Currently, four states — Florida, Mississippi,
Utah, and Arkansas — have laws that prohibit
adoption by same-sex couples (Florida’s law
additionally bars adoption by gay or lesbian
individuals). At press time, the Tennessee legis
lature was considering an anti-gay adoption bill.
Family leave bill re-introduced
WASHINGTON, D.C. — National LGBT
rights organizations hailed the re-introduction
of the Family Leave Insurance Act in the 111th
Congress. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Pete
Stark (D-CA), would expand the Family and
Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to provide paid
leave for all workers to care for their families.
Currently, millions of gay Americans in
committed relationships are unable to take
FMLA leave to care for their same-sex domes
tic partners in need. While some states and
private employers have filled this gap in cover
age by offering family medical leave for gay
workers, advocates say an expansion of the
FMLA is needed to adequately cover millions
of unprotected American families. I
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APRIL 18.2009‘d^Not c