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CALIFORNIA, from p.10
affect straight men who get teenage girls pregnant. And Werdegar asserted, this targeting is an outgrowth of longstanding historical moral disapproval of homosexuality, as exemplified by a 1974 California court decision that rejected a constitutional challenge to the mandatory registration requirement and found that “the defendant’s arguments were those of ‘the congenital homosexual to whom that is natural which the vast majority of the population deems unnatural.’” A 1966 UCLA Law Review study of sex crimes enforcement practices, she noted, “found that police officers, when they had a choice of statutes under which to arrest gay men, consciously chose those
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ALABAMA, from p.9
the Supreme Court to weigh in, but Granade quickly rejected that move saying that probate judges needed the time until February 9 to prepare for the advent of issuing licenses to same-sex couples In an extraordinary January 27 letter responding to Granade’s first marriage ruling, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy S. Moore urged Republican Governor Robert Bentley to resist her order. “As you know, nothing in the United States Constitution grants the federal government the authority to redefine the institution of
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BEYOND MARRIAGE, from p.5
GayCityNews.nyc | February 05 - 18, 2015
marriage,” Moore wrote. Noting that Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment bar ring marriage by same-sex couples or its recognition by the state, the chief justice wrote that the state’s high court recognized marriage as “a divine institution” under which spouses have “higher moral and religious obligations than those imposed by any mere human institution or government.” Moore then asserted that state law has always “recognized the Biblical admonition stated by our Lord” that man and woman were created to be joined together in marriage. “I ask you to continue to uphold
itself was a normal one not considered deserving of any social stigma; oral copulation, in contrast, was an unnatural act typically engaged in by homosexuals.” Werdegar’s dissent is a clear call for legislative reform. In overruling its own 2006 decision, she writes, “the majority reinstates a scheme that had a disproportionately adverse effect on gay and lesbian youth and unnecessarily saddled nonpredatory offenders of either sexual orientation with the stigma and restricted liberties attendant on sex offender registration.” The California Legislature, with large majorities of gay-friendly Democrats in both houses, certainly has the power to extend judicial discretion to all cases of adult sex with youths 16 and 17.
and support the Alabama Constitution with respect to marriage, both for the welfare of this state and for posterity,” the chief justice wrote in conclusion. “Be advised that I stand with you to stop judicial tyranny and any unlawful opinions issued without constitutional authority.” After the 11th Circuit denied the state’s bid to have the stay extended, Moore stepped in again, with a letter to Alabama’s probate judges, some of whom already voiced opposition to complying with Granade’s
order, urging them to join in his refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the marriage decision. In response to Moore’s letter to the governor, reminiscent of the late Alabama Governor George Wallace’s defiance of federal desegregation orders in the 1960s, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a disciplinary complaint against him with the state’s Judicial Inquiry Commission. That body has the authority to discipline Moore, up to and including removal from office.
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in New York on both AIDS advocacy and the homeless youth issue, and that it shares the protesters’ commitment to press for an end to discrimination against HIV-positive people by the nation’s organ exchange network. Krehely and Sainz prepared a detailed outline of HRC’s work on HIV issues on Capitol Hill, though Sainz agreed that the group’s website could do a better job of highlighting information about the epidemic and efforts to address it. Other highlights of the evening included a barnburner of a keynote address by New Jersey Senator Cory Booker who warned about the perils of “sedentary agitation,” saying, during a passage where he drew strong parallels between the African-American civil rights struggle and the LGBT movement, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest.” Booker earned laughs and hearty applause when he teasingly
offenses requiring registration. . ., the ‘predominant view’ being that ‘homosexual offenders should be registered.’” Differential registration requirements perpetuate the old distinction between heterosexuality as “normal” and homosexuality as “abnormal,” Werdegar wrote. “Indeed, as the majority notes, when the prohibition on sexual intercourse with underage girls was removed from California’s rape statute and designated as the new offense of ‘unlawful sexual intercourse,’ the principal goal was to eliminate the social stigma of labeling offenders as ‘rapists.’” The underlying assumptions behind the difference is “clear,” she found, “while sexual intercourse with minors was an offense, the act
Mary Lambert performs “Same Love” and several other songs.
told the crowd, “Don't forget me, I’m single.” Mary Lambert — who made an unforgettable appearance at last year’s Grammy Awards singing her “Same Love” anthem, backed up by Madonna, Macklemore, and Ryan Lewis, while Queen Latifah married 33 couples, same and different-sex — performed three songs and riffed at length, offering sweet insights into an emerging young star.
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