Big Gay News
LOCAL NEWS
Judge Dismisses Challenge to Same-Sex Marriage Barriers
The Star Tribune reports that in early March, Hennepin County District Court Judge Mary Dufresne dismissed a lawsuit that challenged legal barriers to same-sex marriage in Minnesota. She wrote in her opinion that “unless and until” the Minnesota Supreme Court overrules a 1971 decision limiting marriage to a man and a woman, or repeals the state Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), “same-sex marriage will not exist in this state.”
NATIONAL NEWS
US House Counters Obama Administration by Defending DOMA
According to Agence France-Presse, the US House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, voted along party lines in early March to defend in court the federal ban on same-sex marriage, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Republican House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement, “This action by the House will ensure that this law’s constitutionality is decided by the courts, rather than by the President unilaterally.” The vote came after the Obama Administration announced it no longer would defend key parts of DOMA in court.
Prop 8 Sponsors Oppose Lifting Same-Sex Marriage Ban
The Associated Press reports that attorneys for the sponsors of California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state, are asking the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the measure in place while considering its constitutionality. Plaintiffs in the case are requesting that the court let same-sex marriages resume in California while it hears the appeal.
