Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Gay Groups Seek Delay In Calif. Gay Marriage Case
Two national LGBT civil rights groups Thursday asked a federal judge not to issue a ruling in a challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act until California courts have dealt with the issue of same-sex marriage.
Gay Groups Seek Delay In Calif. Gay Marriage Case
by Matt Johns 365Gay.com Los Angeles Bureau
Posted: January 27, 2005 9:04 pm. ET
(Santa Ana, California) Two national LGBT civil rights groups Thursday asked a federal judge not to issue a ruling in a challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act until California courts have dealt with the issue of same-sex marriage.
A suburban Orange County gay couple, Christopher Hammer and Arthur Smelt, are suing the federal government in a bid to have DOMA struck down, but Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed friend of the court briefs Thursday arguing that the cases already before California courts should take precedence.
"Marriage traditionally has been a state law matter," said Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
A joint suit brought by the City of San Francisco and several of the 4,000 same-sex couples married in the city last year is before San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer. Arguments were heard last year and a decision is not likely for at least a month. (story) It is expected the case will work its way to the state Supreme Court.
Hammer and Arthur Smelt took the unusual step of bypassing the California case and directly challenging the federal ban on gay marriage.
But, a similar move in Florida failed. Earlier this week gay couples in the Sunshine State decided to drop their lawsuits. (story)
Hammer and Smelt, both 45 and on disability retirement from their jobs, met in 1996 and held a commitment ceremony in their Mission Viejo home a year later in front of a few family members.
They tried to get a marriage license in Orange County at the time but were turned down.
Today before U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor, Gilbert went up against lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Attorney General's Office and Orange County.
The couple's lawyer, Richard C. Gilbert told the court that laws prohibiting gay marriage are a violation of civil rights equivalent to racial segregation.
Calling gays and lesbians "the most oppressed minority since slavery," Gilbert urged Judge Taylor to overturn the California and federal laws against same-sex marriage.
"It now falls to you to uphold the principles of liberty," Gilbert said.
In addition to Lambda and NCLR, Taylor allowed two conservative groups opposed to gay marriage to enter the case - the Florida-based Liberty Counsel and Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.
Taylor did not say when he would decide whether to withhold his ruling until the state cases are dealt with.
©365Gay.com 2005
by Matt Johns 365Gay.com Los Angeles Bureau
Posted: January 27, 2005 9:04 pm. ET
(Santa Ana, California) Two national LGBT civil rights groups Thursday asked a federal judge not to issue a ruling in a challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act until California courts have dealt with the issue of same-sex marriage.
A suburban Orange County gay couple, Christopher Hammer and Arthur Smelt, are suing the federal government in a bid to have DOMA struck down, but Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed friend of the court briefs Thursday arguing that the cases already before California courts should take precedence.
"Marriage traditionally has been a state law matter," said Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
A joint suit brought by the City of San Francisco and several of the 4,000 same-sex couples married in the city last year is before San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer. Arguments were heard last year and a decision is not likely for at least a month. (story) It is expected the case will work its way to the state Supreme Court.
Hammer and Arthur Smelt took the unusual step of bypassing the California case and directly challenging the federal ban on gay marriage.
But, a similar move in Florida failed. Earlier this week gay couples in the Sunshine State decided to drop their lawsuits. (story)
Hammer and Smelt, both 45 and on disability retirement from their jobs, met in 1996 and held a commitment ceremony in their Mission Viejo home a year later in front of a few family members.
They tried to get a marriage license in Orange County at the time but were turned down.
Today before U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor, Gilbert went up against lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Attorney General's Office and Orange County.
The couple's lawyer, Richard C. Gilbert told the court that laws prohibiting gay marriage are a violation of civil rights equivalent to racial segregation.
Calling gays and lesbians "the most oppressed minority since slavery," Gilbert urged Judge Taylor to overturn the California and federal laws against same-sex marriage.
"It now falls to you to uphold the principles of liberty," Gilbert said.
In addition to Lambda and NCLR, Taylor allowed two conservative groups opposed to gay marriage to enter the case - the Florida-based Liberty Counsel and Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.
Taylor did not say when he would decide whether to withhold his ruling until the state cases are dealt with.
©365Gay.com 2005
For more information:
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/01/012705c...
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$210.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
by The Associated Press
Posted: January 26, 2005 9:02 pm. ET
(Santa Ana, California) They filed their lawsuit almost as an afterthought. But a legal challenge by a gay couple from suburban Orange County against laws banning same-sex marriage has suddenly become an important case in a thinning field of litigation on the issue.
Christopher Hammer and Arthur Smelt plan to be in U.S. District Court on Thursday as their attorney argues that the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 22 are violations of civil rights akin to slavery or denying women the right to vote.
The hearing comes two days after gay couples in Florida decided to drop their lawsuits, leaving the California case as the only federal court challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. (story)
"Certainly, eyes are going to be focused on this particular case," said Matthew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, an opponent of gay marriage involved in some 30 cases around the nation.
The only other same-sex marriage case pending in federal court, according to lawyers on both sides of the debate, is one in Nebraska that challenges a state law on same-sex marriages. The judge has not ruled yet in that case.
Hammer and Smelt, both 45 and on disability retirement from their jobs, met in 1996 and held a commitment ceremony in their Mission Viejo home a year later in front of a few family members.
They tried to get a marriage license in Orange County at the time but were turned down.
"I was laughed at. They said, 'don't even bother,'" Hammer said.
But last year, as the couple watched news reports of gays and lesbians getting married in San Francisco - ceremonies later halted by a court - they decided to give it another shot. Turned down again, they filed a lawsuit.
It's a matter of principal and fairness, the men said.
"Everybody should have the right to get married. That's all," Smelt said. "That's just how I feel."
Their attorney, Richard C. Gilbert, decided to pursue the case in federal court, even though most cases elsewhere were filed in state courts, where activists believe their chances are better.
"Marriage traditionally has been a state law matter," said Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Gilbert said federal and state laws against same sex marriage are unconstitutional.
On Tuesday, three gay couples in Florida dropped their lawsuits challenging the Defense of Marriage Act after a judge dismissed their cases. They decided not to risk appeals that could result in the U.S. Supreme Court setting a precedent by rejecting the cases.
Gilbert, who said his arguments are different from those used in Florida, was stunned to learn the cases had been dropped and believes that if he loses before the federal judge in Santa Ana, he will prevail on appeal.
"I'll fight all the way to the United States Supreme Court if these plaintiffs are willing to fight," he said.
In Thursday's hearing before U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor, Gilbert will go up against lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Attorney General's Office and Orange County.
The judge will also hear from two private groups - the Florida-based Liberty Counsel and Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund - that believe gay marriages undermine traditional marriage.
Taylor has not said when he will rule in the case.
The state attorney general, Lambda and the city of San Francisco have filed briefs asking that he delay a decision until after a ruling, expected soon, by San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer on suits seeking to make California the only state other than Massachusetts where gays and lesbians can marry.
©Associated Press 2005
However, they should withdraw their case, for now.
Tactically, this is NOT the time to challenge DOMA.
By leaving DOMA in place, at least temporarily, we can give Republicans and redstate Democrats in the US Senate a plausible excuse for not passing an amendment to the federal constitution; which they may need to get re-elected in 2006 or 2008.
In litigation, as in chess, the winning moves aren't always
the most obvious moves.