Maine committee endorses gay marriage bill

By 365gay Newscenter Staff

04.28.2009 4:19pm EDT

(Augusta, Maine) The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14-11 Tuesday to bring the equal marriage bill before the full Senate.

Moments before the vote was taken, a woman was removed from the room by State Police after shouting that the bill was immoral. Meanwhile, same-sex marriage advocates delivered more than 10,000 postcards to Gov. John Baldacci asking him to support the legislation. Baldacci has said he has not made up his mind on gay marriage.

EqualityMaine and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence called on the governor to endorse the bill and sign it if it passes the legislature. The groups also sent lawmakers copy of a book they prepared that includes interviews with 82 people who tell about the impact on their families of not having a gay marriage law.

The legislation would repeal Maine’s 12-year-old Defense of Marriage law which bars same-sex marriage. It also states that churches cannot be compelled to conduct same-sex weddings if they would be contrary to their doctrine.

Maine’s tourism industry has said legalizing same-sex marriage in the state could save them from disaster as the state’s economy continues to turn sour.

Industry spokespeople pointed to a recent study by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California –  Los Angeles that found extending marriage to same-sex couples would boost Maine’s economy by $60 million over three years, which would generate increases in state and local government tax and fee revenues by almost $3.6 million.

The conservative Maine Marriage Alliance has said that if same-sex marriage appears to be on a track to legalization, it would press for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

A vote in the Senate could come as early as next week.

In New Hampshire, a vote on a similar bill is set for an initial vote Wednesday in the state Senate.

Same-sex marriage already is legal in three other New England states – Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont.

in In the News / Uncategorized  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Gay dad, kids receive Social Security benefits

By 365gay Newscenter Staff
04.27.2009 6:00pm EDT

(Washington) The Social Security Administration has reversed a decision to deny benefits to the children of a disabled gay father following a three year battle waged on behalf of the family by Lambda Legal.

“This is long awaited relief for Gary Day and his children, who just want to be respected as the family that they are,” said Lambda attorney Beth Littrell in a statement.

“The Social Security Administration is supposed to provide families with help in a time of need regardless of a parent’s sexual orientation. After three long years and a federal lawsuit, the SSA has finally come through for these children.”

In February 2006, Day completed the applications for Child Insurance Benefits for his children. He provided birth certificates and court documents that acknowledge him as a legal parent of the children. The SSA acknowledged that they received the application and promised to provide a response in 45 days.

After more than a year with no response, Lambda Legal sent a letter on Day’s behalf seeking action by the agency. The SSA still did not provide an initial determination of eligibility citing unspecified “legal questions and policy issues” involved with the application.

Day provided all the necessary documentation to establish a legitimate parent-child relationship and fulfilled all of the SSA’s prerequisites, according to Lambda, yet his family was left without the social safety net that Day had paid into for decades and that all other families are provided on a regular basis.

In May 2008, Lambda Legal, along with co-counsel from McDermott Will & Emery, filed suit against the SSA compelling the agency to act on Day’s application and urging the SSA to recognize Day as a legal parent of the children.

The agency Friday finally sent a letter to Lambda recognizing the legal relationship between Day and his children without discrimination based on his sexual orientation or family status.

“As a parent, it is my job to provide for my children,” said Day.

” I am relieved to be able to fulfill my promise and also relieved that the SSA will provide the benefits my family needs, just as they do for other families.”

“This case has always been about the welfare of Mr. Day’s children and protecting them from discrimination … The sexual orientation of their parents is and should be irrelevant to such a determination,” said co-counsel Lisa A. Linsky.

in Family Stories / In the News / Surrogacy / Uncategorized  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Lesbian couple appeals order removing their foster child

Lesbian couple appeals order removing their foster child
By 365gay Newscenter Staff
03.11.2009 4:39pm EDT

(Charleston, West Virginia) The West Virginia Supreme Court was asked Wednesday to overturn a lower court ruling that removed a child they had reared from birth because the judge wanted the child placed with a married, opposite-sex couple.

Fayette Circuit Judge Paul Blake originally agreed to allow Kathyrn Kutil and Cheryl Hess be foster parents for the infant girl, following a positive assessment by the Department of Health and Human Resources.

Court records show that the little girl was born to a drug addicted mother and the baby had cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines in her system. Shortly after birth, the baby went through drug withdrawal. The father was unknown.

The Department placed the child with Kutil and Hess, who had been approved as foster parents, when it could not find any blood relatives of the mother.

But nearly a year later, when the couple applied to adopt the little girl, both the Department and Judge Blake balked. Last year in his ruling, Blake ordered the child, removed saying the baby should be permanently placed in a home where the parents would be a married opposite-sex couple.

The ruling said that he had agreed to allow the women to foster the child because it was the best option at the time. But he never intended it to be permanent.

“I think I’ve indicated time and time again, this court’s opinion is that the best interest of a child is to be raised by a traditional family, mother and father,” Blake’s ruling said.

In their appeal to the sate Supreme Court, the women argue that Blake exceeded his authority and violated their constitutional rights. The appeal argues that Blake is “setting a dangerous precedent” for discriminatory treatment of non-traditional families.

A different judge recently approved Kutil’s adoption of a 12-year-old girl whom she’d been fostering for over two years, the appeal notes.

West Virginia law allows either single individuals or married couples to adopt. It says nothing about same-sex couples.

The Supreme Court, when the notice of appeal was filed, issued a stay on implementing Blake’s removal order and the child remains with the couple pending a final ruling by the high court.

The justices gave no indication when that might be.

in Foster Care / Foster Parenting / In the News / Legal / Legislation  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Vermont mental health groups back gay marriage

By 365gay Newscenter Staff
03.10.2009 1:02pm EDT

(Burlington, Vermont) Vermont mental health professionals are backing legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.

The Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Mental Health Counselor Association and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a joint statement that arguments by opponents of same-sex marriage who claim it is not in the best interest of children to allow gays and lesbians to marry are wrong.

“Children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish,” the statement said.

The statement was released at a news conference by the groups.

“No study has shown that outcomes for children of single-sex families are any less positive than outcomes for children in heterosexual families,” said Jackie Weinstock, an associate professor at the University of Vermont and a spokesperson for the four groups.

Steve Cable, of the Vermont Marriage Advisory Council which opposes gay marriage, said the groups are using inconclusive science to back a political agenda.

The Vermont Legislature is expected to take up a marriage equality bill next week. The legislation has 59 sponsors in the House – all Democrats.

Vermont was the first state in the country to legalize civil unions in 2000. Since then, LGBT groups have criticized the law for creating a “two tiered” system – marriage for opposite-sex couples and civil unions for gays.

An 11-member commission was set up last year by Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin (D) and Speaker of the House Shap Smith (D).

The commission submitted its report to the legislature last April, but made no recommendations on revising the law to allow for same-sex marriage.

Last week, Shumlin, who spearheaded the civil union bill nine years ago, said that the civil union law hasn’t kept up with the times. Massachusetts and Connecticut allow same-sex marriage and gay marriage bills are under consideration in Maine and New Hampshire.

But if the bill passes the legislature it is doubtful Republican Gov. James Douglas will sign it. Douglas through a spokesperson said that the governor believes civil unions are sufficient.

in In the News / Parenting  by Anthony Brown 0 comments