Oregon judge under investigation after refusing to perform same-sex marriages | US news. Marion County judge Vance Day is being investigated by a judicial fitness commission in part over his refusal to perform same-sex marriages on religious grounds, a spokesman for the judge said. When a federal court ruling in May 2014 made same-sex marriage legal in Oregon, Day instructed his staff to refer same-sex couples looking to marry to other judges, spokesman Patrick Korten said Friday. Last fall, he decided to stop performing weddings altogether, aside from one in March that had long been scheduled, Korten said.
“He made a decision nearly a year ago to stop doing weddings altogether, and the principal factor that he weighed was the pressure that one would face to perform a same-sex wedding, which he had a conflict with his religious beliefs,” Korten said. In an email, Day declined to comment and referred questions to Korten. The investigation of Day’s conduct comes amid heightened national attention to the responsibilities of public officials who oppose same-sex marriage. Supreme court's gay marriage ruling: a day of elation, but decades of activism | US news. The supreme court has made gay marriage the law of the land across the United States, capping decades of legal steps that have sped up rapidly in the past two years. The ruling follows decades of activism across the country.
Here’s a timeline of what brought the US to this point. December 1924: The first gay rights group is started in the US. Henry Gerber, who immigrated from Germany in 1913, founded the Society for Human Rights in Chicago after being temporarily committed to a mental institution because of his sexuality. Facing criticism by the families of its few members, as well as concerns about employment and arrest, the group disbanded in 1925. 1950: Gay rights organization the Mattachine Society is founded. Activist Harry Hay started the group in California and it eventually expanded to have chapters across the US. 28 June 1969: Stonewall riots. May 1970: Same-sex couple first in the US to try to get marriage license. 1981: Aids crisis begins in the US.
Meet the Alabama judges who refuse to issue marriage licenses – gay or straight | US news. Standing in front of their rural Alabama church, just outside a tiny town called Woodland (population 192), two white women in their 50s are making small talk while they wait for their husbands after evening service. Impossibly polite and welcoming, and speaking in an enchanting southern drawl, they confide they are worried. The supreme court ruling granting marriage rights to same-sex couples across the nation has left them feeling like their religious beliefs and freedoms are under attack.
“It’s been on our minds a lot. We are not sure what to do,” one says. That evening’s service featured a special guest preacher: John Eidsmoe, a Montgomery-based lawyer, pastor and employee of the Moral Law Foundation (the mission of which is to restore “the knowledge of God in law and government”). As the sermon came to a close, congregants were asked if they had any questions for their guest, and some were finally able to ask the questions about gay marriage weighing on many of them.
New year brings new challenges for both sides of religious freedom divide | US news. While the highest justices in the US prepared to legalize gay marriage last year, a new campaign arose among social conservatives. Its aim was to counter the supreme court’s ruling with state laws creating religious exemptions. Many saw such laws as licenses to discriminate. Conservative lawmakers argued the bills were necessary to protect religious beliefs.
But because the majority of states still lack anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, rights groups accused such lawmakers of designing loopholes in civil rights. Now, as lawmakers head back to state capitols for a new year, states from Georgia to Colorado are readying for more battles over religious freedom, as officials file bills or start to lobby for them. Advocacy organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) expect a batch of bills attempting to provide religious exemptions for adoption agencies, businesses and schools. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Same-sex marriage battles continue across United States. For the first time, a Kentucky county clerk is appealing an order to issue same-sex marriage licenses despite the Supreme Court ruling requiring her to do so.
On Monday, Federal District Judge David Bunning ordered a temporary stay on the issuing of marriage licenses by the Rowan County Clerk's Office while the appeal is pending, according to court documents. David Moore and David Ermold are one of at least four couples who were refused a marriage license by the Rowan County Clerk in Morehead, Kentucky. They have been together for the past 17 years and have lived in Rowan County for the past 10 years. They attempted to get a marriage license twice, first in July and for a second time in August.
The footage shows the couple presenting the clerk's office with a letter from Kentucky Gov. "This is how gay people are treated in this country, this is what it's like, this is their experience, this is how it feels," Ermold said in an emotional statement after being denied for the second time. Supreme Court rules states must allow same-sex marriage. In the 5-4 ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority with the four liberal justices. Each of the four conservative justices wrote their own dissent. Nearly 46 years to the day after a riot at New York's Stonewall Inn ushered in the modern gay rights movement, the decision could settle one of the major civil rights fights of this era. The language of Kennedy's opinion spoke eloquently of the most fundamental values of family, love and liberty. "No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family," Kennedy wrote. 'Equal dignity in the eyes of the law' "Their hope," Kennedy wrote, "is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions.
In a dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia blasted the Court's "threat to American democracy. " "The substance of today's decree is not of immense personal importance to me," he wrote. Obama: 'Congratulations' 14 couples Sgt. How legal tide turned on same-sex marriage in the US. Same sex marriage is now legal in the entire US after a Supreme Court ruling striking down state marriage bans. The ruling means all US states must grant marriage licences to gay and lesbian couples and recognise marriages that have taken place in other states. So how did we get to this point? In 1996, the US Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages. In 2003, Massachusetts judges ruled the state constitution allowed gay marriage, and marriage licences followed shortly after that. In the following years, a handful of states passed gay marriage bans while others began working towards allowing same-sex unions - either by court order or legislation.
One high-profile ban occurred by referendum in California in 2008 after courts had previously allowed same-sex marriage. This continued across the US until the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013. What is next? Huffingtonpost. Democrat backs anti-gay marriage amendment. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) supports a Federal Marriage Amendment against same-sex marriage. (Photo public domain) Support for a U.S. constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage is often associated with former President George W. Bush’s 2004 State of the Union address or the policy platform of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. As it turns out, it’s also associated with a Democratic U.S. House member representing the suburbs of Chicago. Rep.
The two-page voting guide indicates the position of various candidates in the Illinois 3rd congressional district on issues important to social conservatives. The measure, introduced by Rep. Additionally, the questionnaire indicates Lipinski opposes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; supports a measure that would have prohibited the U.S. In terms of non-LGBT issues, the questionnaire also indicates Lipinski’s opposition to Obamacare and support for various measures that would restrict abortion rights.