A man who was fired from a suburban Catholic church after announcing his "engagement" to his male partner filed a federal discrimination suit Monday against the parish and the Archdiocese of Chicago. Colin Collette claims the church violated the federal Civil Rights Act, the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance when he was dismissed as music director in 2014. Collette is seeking to regain his job, along with an unspecified amount of back pay and benefits, damages, and attorneys fees.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Alabama’s Supreme Court was wrong to allow the birth mother of three children to deny visitation rights to her former lesbian partner, who had adopted the children while the couple lived together in Georgia. Alabama’s high court had ruled last year that the state did not have to legally recognize the adoption and compel the birth mother to allow the adoptive mother to visit the children.
The Foundation for Moral Law, a Montgomery-based legal foundation dedicated to the defense of the United States Constitution, hailed last Friday’s ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court as a courageous first step toward restoring the original intent of the Constitution. On Friday, the court dismissed all pending motions and petitions before it, leaving undisturbed its March 2015 order. This means the court regards Alabama's marriage amendment as still valid, despite a U.S. Supreme Court opinion to the contrary.
On Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court broke their nine month silence on same-sex "marriage" and in a 9-0 Order simply dismissed all of the pending motions and petitions and refused to lift their Injunction from March 3 that upheld Alabama’s Sanctity of Marriage Amendment. "Such an action from a State Supreme Court has not been seen since the days of Dred Scott," Tom Ford, spokesperson for Sanctity of Marriage Alabama said.
Montgomery, AL – Today, in a 170-page ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court rejected the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage opinion by issuing its own Judgement in favor of Liberty Counsel’s Petition for Mandamus. In the petition, Liberty Counsel demanded on behalf of its Alabama clients – Alabama Policy Institute (“API”) and Alabama Citizens Action Program (“ALCAP”) – that the state’s probate judges obey Alabama’s Constitution and laws. On March 4, 2015, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered the probate judges to immediately cease issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
The Pastor Protection Act, a bill designed to shield clergy from legal backlash if they refuse to perform same-sex "weddings," passed the Florida Senate on Thursday on a 23-15 vote. After passing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a wide margin, the only hurdle left was Thursday’s vote on the Senate floor. The bill will become law if Gov. Rick Scott signs it.
The Tennessee House of Representatives sent a message to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, passing a resolution expressing disagreement with the court’s marriage ruling. With a 73-18 vote, the chamber passed the measure to emphasize "that this body expresses its disagreement with the constitutional analysis in Obergefell v. Hodges and the judicial imposition of a marriage license law that is contrary to the express will of this body and the vote of the people of Tennessee." The resolution now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Northern Ireland's Attorney General has been given the green light to become involved in the Ashers discrimination case. Ashers Baking Company, run by the McArthur family, is appealing the outcome of legal action over its refusal to make a cake with a pro-"gay marriage" slogan. The Attorney General is arguing that sexual orientations regulations like the one used against the bakery directly discriminate against those who hold religious beliefs or political opinions.
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have required transgender students in the state's public schools to use the bathroom of their biological gender. In issuing his veto, the Republican governor said the bill, "does not address any pressing issue concerning the school districts of South Dakota," and that it also "removes the ability of local school districts to determine the most appropriate accommodations for their individual students and replaces that flexibility with a state mandate."
More than 15,000 people have signed a petition backing the Christian family at the center of the same-sex "marriage" cake case in Northern Ireland. The McArthur family—the owners of Ashers Baking Company—are appealing a court ruling that they discriminated against a homosexual customer, and have been heartened by the support, the Christian Institute said. The high-profile case is due back before the Court of Appeal tomorrow after it was halted last month following a last-minute intervention by Attorney General John Larkin.
Supporters of redefining marriage in Australia are now able to lobby for the cause on Facebook as part of the social networking site’s new partnership with an advocacy group. All Facebook users, regardless of location, were given the option of adding the Australian Marriage Equality group’s custom frame, reading "I [heart] Marriage Equality", to the bottom of their profile pictures on Tuesday.
Public school superintendents in Texas voted 586-32 in a January referendum to adopt a new rule requiring schools to use birth certificates to determine the gender of prospective student-athletes in school sports. The new rule reads: "Gender shall be determined based on a student's birth certificate. In cases where a student's birth certificate is unavailable, other similar government documents used for the purpose of identification may be submitted."
A Christian postgraduate student in the UK has been expelled from Sheffield University for voicing opposition to "gay marriage." In a Facebook discussion, Felix Ngole expressed support for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, quoting a verse from Leviticus which calls homosexuality an abomination. Two months later, a university panel concluded that Ngole's comment "may have caused offence to some individuals" and decided to expel him.
Utah lawmakers have rejected an effort to strike parts of state law requiring officials to give preference to married couples in adoptions and foster care placements. Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Angela Romero sponsors the bill and says changing language such as "man" and "wife" to gender-neutral terms like "spouse," brings Utah in line with the Supreme Court's Obergefell ruling and prevents lawsuits. The committee voted 5-5 Wednesday morning to keep the bill from advancing, though it could be revived later.
A small town bakery owned by a Edie and David Delorme is receiving threats after declining to bake a "wedding" cake for a same-sex couple. On Feb. 17th, Ben Valencia and Luis Marmolejo requested the bakers make a cake for their upcoming "wedding." When their order was turned down, the two men went public — accusing the Delorme family of discrimination. So far, no formal charges or complaints have been filed against the bakery owners.
A New Jersey school district is considering a new bathroom policy, one that would allow transgender students to use the restroom of the opposite sex. The Toms River Board of Education was prepared to pass the new transgender-approving policy, but a pastor began an online petition drive to stop the proposal. The school board has now "tabled" the policy for further consideration.
NC Speaker of the House Tim Moore vowed on Tuesday to correct the "radical course" taken by leaders in Charlotte, the state's largest city, after they voted Monday to allow transgender people to use public bathrooms reserved for the opposite sex. "The Charlotte City Council has gone against all common sense and has created a major public safety issue by opening all bathrooms and changing rooms to the general public,” Moore said in a statement.
Monday night, the Washington County Commission in Tennessee discussed a resolution asking the state to stand up to the Supreme Court on the definition of marriage. This was the commission’s second attempt at discussing the resolution. Nearly 800 people attended the meeting, with at least 57 signing up for pubic comment. The meeting lasted for more than 6 hours. The resolution, requiring 13 "yes" votes to pass, failed with 12 commissioners voting yes and 11 voting no.
Georgia's governor indicated Monday that changes are coming to a bill allowing faith-based organizations to refuse service to gay couples without repercussion. Supporters say it's intended to prevent religious adoption agencies, schools and other organizations from losing licenses, state grants, or other government benefits for their religious beliefs about same-sex marriage. Gov. Nathan Deal said his office is working with legislative leaders and declined to say whether he supports the current version of the bill.
Kentucky's state Senate approved a bill Thursday that creates different marriage license forms for homosexual and married couples. The primary purpose of the legislation was to remove the names of county clerks from marriage licenses, a response to the controversy surrounding Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
A bill introduced to the Utah House of Representatives would emphasize Utah's constitutional right to make marriage laws,in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling purporting to redefine marriage nationwide. Sponsored by Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, HB393 — which is titled "Sovereign Marriage Authority" — says the state "holds and reserves the sovereign right to decide all matters constituting and relating to its domestic relations laws and public policies."
Barbour County Tea Party president, Dr. Terry Batton, filed complaints Thursday against the justices of the Alabama Supreme Court on behalf of six Alabama conservative groups in light of the Court’s over seven month silence on a pending case. The Alabama Supreme Court has a case before them asking them to consider how Obergefell v. Hodges (the SCOTUS marriage opinion) should affect Alabama.
The Family Policy Institute of Washington has released its newest video, entitled "Truth is Compassion." The video was picked up and editorialized by Glenn Beck’s media giant TheBlaze over the weekend, pushing it into national spotlight as several states grapple with issues relating to transgender bathroom/locker room policies. The video challenges the view that an individual's self-proclaimed identity is sovereign over reality.
While campaigning in Michigan, Ohio Gov. John Kasich was asked by a student what his response to the Obergefell ruling would be as president. "So the Supreme Court upheld marriage equality," the student said. "Does that mean you would go out of your way to protect that right?" "Look, we're not changing any laws," Kasich replied. "The court has spoken. That's the end of it."
It's been more than a year since a federal judge purported to redefine marriage in Florida, but the state constitution still recognizes marriage as between one man and one woman, and a proposal to change it seems unlikely to gain traction this year. Also viewed as unlikely to pass is a measure that would change Florida birth certificates to include same-sex "parents."