Nov 24, 2006   | COMMENTS     

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — A Rutland Family Court judge will decide whether to penalize a Virginia woman who failed to comply with a child-custody ruling that grew out of the breakup of her civil union. In August, the Vermont Supreme Court rejected her argument and sent the case back to Family Court. Last week, Vermont’s highest court turned down a request for a new hearing. “[Lisa Miller-Jenkins’] motion for re-argument fails to identify points of law or fact overlooked or misapprehended by the court that would probably affect the result of the appeal,” the Supreme Court said. Theodore Parisi, Janet Miller-Jenkins’ lawyer, has asked the court to consider penalizing Lisa Miller-Jenkins, by transferring “temporary parental rights and responsibilities to [Janet Miller-Jenkins] or hold a hearing as suggested in this court’s order dated July 19, 2004.” The order said “failure of the custodial parent to allow contact will result in an immediate hearing on the need to change custody.” Parisi also has requested that Lisa Miller-Jenkins reimburse Janet Miller-Jenkins for legal fees and transportation expenses related to the child visits.

Gay veterans appeal
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ ruling

BOSTON (AP) — Twelve gay and lesbian veterans have appealed a federal judge’s decision to throw out a lawsuit in which they challenged the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network filed the appeal Monday in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Boston, arguing the policy denies gays’ constitutional rights to privacy, free speech and equal protection. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but requires discharge of those who acknowledge being gay or engaging in homosexual activity. In April, U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole threw out the lawsuit, ruling that Congress has the authority to establish the country’s military policy. The 12 plaintiffs served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. The appeals court in Boston has never been asked to rule in a case involving the policy.

Gay marriage case moves
to California high court

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Whether gays and lesbians have the right to marry in California moved to the state’s highest court this week, a month after an appeals court ruled against same-sex marriage. The city of San Francisco filed the appeal to the California Supreme Court, claiming that laws authorizing only heterosexual marriages are unconstitutional discrimination. A lower court had agreed, but an appeals court last month reversed that decision. The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that, among other things, it was not the judiciary’s role to define marriage — as 61 percent of California voters in 2000 declared marriage as a union between a man and a woman under Proposition 22. Two of the original plaintiffs, Cristy Chung and Lancy Woo, are opting out of the appeal because they are breaking up. The seven-member Supreme Court is not obligated to review the appellate court’s decision. If it does not, the ruling stands. If the justices take the case, a decision on same-sex marriage is likely a year or more away.

Court considers Oklahoma
law banning gay adoptions

DENVER (AP) — An attorney for the state of Oklahoma asked a federal appeals court this week to revive a law that denies recognition of adoptions by same-sex couples from other states. Assistant Attorney General Martha Kulmacz told a three-judge panel of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a federal judge in Oklahoma City was wrong when she struck the law as unconstitutional and ordered state officials to issue birth certificates to two lesbian couples listing both women as parents. But Ken Upton of Lambda Legal, a civil rights group that represented the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the 2004 law, said before that law was passed, the state attorney general had decided that valid adoptions from other states had to be recognized in Oklahoma, no matter who the parents were. The judges didn’t say when they would rule. The lawsuit was filed by three same-sex couples who had adopted children in other states and sought recognition of those adoptions in Oklahoma. The trial judge dismissed their case, saying they couldn’t prove the law hurt them.

Two N.J. moms to be on
baby’s birth certificate

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) — In some of the first legal ...