Celebrating 41 Years! Issue 47 Volume 42
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Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Montana marriage ban falls, couples marry Judge rejects Baker v. Nelson precedent Karen Langebeck, who have been together for 22 years. “Being able to get married and introduce Karen as my wife – that’s a big deal. Now I have a way to describe this relationship that everybody understands,” Wagner said. In Yellowstone County, Montana’s most populous, the clerk of the district court said her office is ready to issue licenses. “For my office, nothing will be different than any other day,” Kristie Lee Boelter told reporters.
“The Court PERMANENTLY ENJOINS the State of Montana and its officers, employees, agents, U.S. District Judge Brian Mor- and political subdivisions from enris struck down Montana’s ban on forcing [the ban],” Morris wrote in same-sex marriage in a ruling de- his opinion. “This injunction shall livered November 19. take effect immediately.” by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
And it did. Within hours after Morris published his ruling, Gay and Lesbian couples began marrying in Montana. Among the first Montana couples to get their licenses on November 19 were Amy Wagner and
Baker v. Nelson In his ruling, Morris explicitly rejected the reasoning of Baker v. Nelson, the case which the Sixth Circuit Court used as its justification for upholding marriage bans in four states. Baker was a 1971 ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court said that marriage laws were not a proper issue for federal courts. Morris disagreed, saying that legal developments since 1971 make the Baker precedent outdated. “Defendants contend that Plaintiffs’ complaint presents the same
issue rejected in Baker: whether a constitutional right to same-sex marriage exists. The Court agrees,” he wrote. But “Defendants further argue that no sufficient doctrinal developments have occurred to render this issue a substantial federal question. The Court disagrees… ”Baker no longer precludes consideration of challenges to the constitutionality of laws that prohibit same-sex marriage,” Morris added. Noting prior Ninth Circuit Court rulings on LGBT rights – including marriage – Morris ruled that marriage laws must meet the standard of “heightened scrutiny” which banning same-sex marriage does not. “Defendants [representing the state of Montana] fail to put forth any persuasive argument that the discriminatory means employed by these laws relate substantially to the achievement of any important governmental objectives,” he concluded. see Montana page 13
Gay and Lesbian couples began to marry in South Carolina on November 19 after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals turned down the state’s request for a stay. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to issue a stay on November 20. Meanwhile Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt tried desperately to prevent county clerks in his state from issuing licenses to same-sex couples, in spite of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling denying a stay of the lower court decision striking down the Kansas marriage ban. In Michigan some 300 couples found the validity of their marriages in doubt after a Sixth Circuit Court ruling upheld marriage bans in four states. Kayla Bennett and Kristin Anderson were the first to marry in South Carolina, holding their marriage ceremony right outside the Charleston County Probate Court. Probate Judge Irvin Condon
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by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
thenewgay.net
Marriages begin in South National Transgender Day of Remembrance Carolina, controversy in Seattle U hosts commemoration event Kansas, mess in Michigan
announced he will be issuing licenses to those Gay and Lesbian couples who applied before Condon was ordered to stop issuing the licenses on October 9. Charleston County councilwoman Colleen Condon and her fiancée, Nichols Bleckley, were the first in line to receive a marriage license, although not the first ones to actually wed. Condon and Bleckley were the
plaintiffs in the case that overturned South Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriages, and they celebrated the victory on behalf of all Gay and Lesbian couples. “I do hope that every parent, teacher takes a moment today to explain to kids what’s going on and how historic this moment is,” said Bleckley.
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
Each year, national Transgender Day of Remembrance provides an opportunity for communities to come together and remember Transgender people, gender-variant individuals, and those perceived to be Transgender who have been murdered because of hate. Transgender Day of Remembrance is held in November to honor Rita see Marriages page 7 Hester, whose murder on November
28, 1998, launched the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco vigil the following year. The event provides a forum for Transgender communities and allies to raise awareness of the threat of violence faced by gender variant people and the persistence of prejudice felt by the Transgender community. Communities organize events and activities including town hall style “teachins,” photography and poetry exhibits see Remembrance page 8