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Feb 28

‘Religious freedom’ backlash likely to continue as next chapter in LGBT-equality effort

Last August, the New Mexico Supreme Court handed down a ruling that inflamed the religious right.

In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court found that Elaine Huguenin, co-owner of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, violated state law when she turned away Vanessa Willock and her partner in 2006 on the grounds that photographing the same-sex couple’s wedding ceremony would violate her religious beliefs.  Read more

Feb 14

As marriage equality victories stack up, sights remain on Supreme Court

Last June, when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as between a man and a woman was unconstitutional, Justice Antonin Scalia made a prediction: In the not so distant future, the question of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry would once again be before the high court, and the rational set forth in the Windsor decision would all but ensure a sweeping ruling that legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide.

“As I have said, the real rationale of today’s opinion, whatever disappearing trail of its legalistic argle-bargle one chooses to follow, is that DOMA is motivated by ‘bare … desire to harm’ couples in same-sex marriages,” Scalia wrote in his fiery dissent. “How easy it is, indeed how inevitable, to reach the same conclusion with regard to state laws denying same-sex couples marital status.” Read more