15 States Urge Supreme Court To Uphold Gay Marriage Bans
WASHINGTON (AP) – Eight states where same-sex couples can marry are among 15 states urging the Supreme Court to uphold gay marriage bans and leave the matter to voters and lawmakers.
Louisiana and 14 other states are telling the justices in a brief filed Thursday that the court would do “incalculable damage to our civic life” if it decides that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry everywhere in the United States.
The states say they should be free to decide the issue for themselves.
Those seeking a nationwide decree in favor of same-sex marriage “urge the court to declare that the Constitution compels all 50 states to adopt this new form of marriage that did not exist in a single state 12 years ago. The court should decline that invitation,” the states wrote.
Plaintiffs from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee are asking the court to declare that the Constitution forbids states from denying same-sex couples the right to marry. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments on April 28.
Same-sex couples can marry in 37 states as a result of court decree, voter approval or legislative action.
The eight states on Thursday’s legal filing where gay and lesbian couples can marry after courts struck down bans on gay marriage are: Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia.
Seven other states where same-sex marriage remains illegal also joined the brief. They are: Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas.
—–
Delta Air Lines Helps Gay Employees With Health Care Taxes
NEW YORK (AP) – Delta Air Lines became the first major carrier Thursday to make same-sex domestic partners whole for additional income taxes they owe for health care plans.
Atlanta-based Delta will pay those taxes for employees retroactive to Jan. 1. The tax is only a problem for employees living in states that do not recognize their marriages; Georgia is one of them. Delta executives, pilots, flight attendants and other employees living there have to pay extra tax based on the value of the insurance.
At least 40 other major companies offer such benefits.
There are currently 37 states that allow same same-sex marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling by the end of June that could expand same-sex marriage to the entire country.
—–
Michigan’s Snyder Reiterates He Would Veto Religious Objections Bill
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Gov. Rick Snyder warned Thursday that he would veto religious objections legislation unless lawmakers also send him a bill extending anti-discrimination protections to gays.
The Republican for months has expressed skepticism with a proposed state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Act if there is no accompanying measure to amend Michigan’s civil rights law by prohibiting discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents in employment, housing and places open to the public.
On Thursday, as Indiana and Arkansas scrambled amid criticism over “religious freedom” bills, Snyder went further and told the Detroit Free Press he would veto a religious objections bill if it came to his desk as stand-alone legislation.
“Given all the events that are happening in Indiana, I thought it would be good to clarify my position,” he said.
Michigan’s religious liberty bill won approval along party lines from the Republican-controlled House in December’s lame-duck session but died in the GOP-led Senate. It was reintroduced in January and is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It also is included majority House Republicans’ two-year “action plan,” though no House bill has been introduced yet.
Supporters of the measure – which would provide a claim or defense to people who say their exercise of religion has been substantially burdened by the government – point to cases such as a suburban Denver baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding and is fighting an order requiring him to serve gay couples against his religious beliefs. Critics say the legislation would permit discrimination against gays.
Equality Michigan, an LGBT advocacy group, said it “appreciates” that Snyder supports updating the 1976 civil rights law.
“However, Michigan will not benefit from a so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and packaging these bills together could still harm Michigan families and bring the type of justified uproar to Michigan that Governor Snyder is trying to avoid,” executive director Emily Dievendorf said in a statement. “We call on the Governor to press harder for passage of an amendment to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and that he veto any Religious Freedom Restoration Act, regardless of what it is packaged with.”
Sen. Mike Shirkey, a Clarklake Republican and sponsor of the religious objections bill, said Snyder’s veto threat shows that he is “not too willing to have a conversation about it” and that the religious liberty bill and the anti-gay discrimination bill are “apples and oranges.” He said the business community’s backlash over Indiana’s law is “hypocritical” because 19 other states have similar laws.
—–
Kansas Panel Advances Campus Group Bill Amid Protest Fears
TOPEKA (AP) – A Republican legislator warned Thursday that Kansas risks the same sort of national backlash as Indiana and Arkansas if lawmakers pass a proposal aimed at protecting college religious groups, but a GOP colleague said heeding such concerns would be “catering to the mob.”
The Kansas House Federal and State Affairs Committee approved a bill designed to give religious groups on state university campuses more control over their membership. The committee’s debate touched on the criticism lawmakers in the two other states have faced for passing broader religious-objections measures described by some business leaders and groups as anti-gay.
Gay-rights supporters in Kansas contend its bill, which passed the Senate two weeks ago, would protect campus religious groups from being sanctioned for barring gay and lesbians as members – or limiting membership based on race, ethnicity or national origin. Backers of the bill say it protects students’ freedoms of association and worship.
The House committee’s 12-10 vote sending the bill to the House floor signaled a possible wider split among Republicans in Kansas than in Arkansas and Indiana, which are among more than a dozen states where religious objections proposals have been introduced this year. Republicans hold 18 of the panel’s 23 seats, and six joined four Democrats in voting against the bill.
GOP Rep. Stephanie Clayton, of Overland Park, predicted Kansas would face an outcry and boycott threats.
“Kansas does not need anything like that happening to damage our reputation,” said Clayton, who voted against the bill.
—–
N. Dakota Lawmakers Again Kill Bill Banning Sexual Discrimination
BISMARCK (AP) – North Dakota’s Republican governor on Thursday said state lawmakers missed an opportunity to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination when they failed for the third time in six years to pass a measure that would prohibit bias in housing and employment based on sexual orientation.
“Discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation is not acceptable,” Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a statement issued after the North Dakota Legislature killed the proposal.
Dalrymple made his view known on the same day that GOP governors in Arkansas and Indiana took actions designed to quell the uproar over so-called “religious freedom” laws that critics have said are disguised discrimination against gays.
The proposed North Dakota legislation is different in that it would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, government, public services and the workplace, and does not deal with religion.
The state Senate approved the measure in February but House members voted to defeat it, with opponents saying during testimony such protections are unnecessary, and argued it could force businesses and religious organizations to go against their own convictions.
“It’s frustrating,” Fargo Democratic Rep. Josh Boschee, the state’s first and only openly gay legislator, told reporters.
Several Democrats spoke in favor of the legislation Thursday, joined by two Republicans – Reps. Thomas Beadle and Kathy Hawken.
Beadle and Boschee said the defeat of the proposal could subject North Dakota to a backlash much like Indiana and Arkansas faced from the public and businesses worried that state would appear to be unwelcoming.
“The mere perception of LGBT discrimination will have negative consequences,” Beadle said.
—–
Nevada Bill Extends LGBT Anti-Discrimination Protections
CARSON CITY (AP) – Nevada lawmakers are reviewing a bill that would expand anti-discrimination language into parts of state law where it was omitted.
Democratic Sen. David Parks presented SB164 on Thursday. It would bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
Bills in past legislative sessions have added the extra anti-discrimination provisions, but Parks said there were some oversights, including in statutes dealing with the Nevada System of Higher Education.
The bill also would add gender identity and expression terminology to the state’s hate crime statute. A murder could be considered aggravated if it was committed because of a person’s gender identity, as well as religion, race or other personal characteristics.
Parks said he hasn’t heard of any instances in which the missing language has created problems.
