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August 8 2014 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 7

newsbriefs

Fourth judge rules against Florida marriage ban

Palm Beach, Fla.-In a case similar to the Obergefell suit before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio, a fourth judge in Florida has ruled against that state's ban on recognition of same-sex marriage.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Diana Lewis' ruling in the probate case of Frank Bangor and W. Jason Simpson applies only to those specific circumstances, so there was neither an order for clerks to start issuing marriage licenses nor a stay of the ruling.

Bangor owned property in Florida and married Simpson legally in Delaware. Simpson tried to take care of the property following Bangor's death, but the state tried to block it, not recognizing him as Bangor's spouse.

The ruling came one day after a Broward County judge ruled against the marriage ban, and two others have done so in the past three weeks.

Utah appeals to Supreme Court

Salt Lake City-Attorney General Sean Reyes on August 5 appealed the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, holding that the state's ban on samesex marriage was unconstitutional.

The first decision in Kitchen v. Herbert was issued last December, and the Tenth Circuit upheld it in June.

If the Supreme Court decides to accept the appeal, the case would result in a national decision for all appellate districts. If the court refuses it, the Tenth Circuit ruling would only apply to Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, along with Yellowstone National Park, including

the parts in Montana and Idaho.

"Today's filing in the Utah case paves the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a marriage case later this year and bring national resolution on marriage once and for all," said Marc Solomon, campaign director for Freedom to Marry. "Every day, hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples and their children are suffering the tangible harms of not being free to marry. The sting of discrimination and the crazy quilt of marriage laws are not just wrong but unconstitutional."

"The momentum is clear, the hardships of denial are real, and the country is ready for the High Court to act," he concluded.

Houston rights ordinance stays

Houston-The city's LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination ordinance will not go to voters in November, after the petitions fell short of valid signatures by over 2,000.

The petitions were thrown out on August 4. City Attorney Dave Feldman said that there were too many irregularities.

Signature collectors must have signed the petitions, and petitioners must be registered voters living in Houston. Feldman said many sheets failed to meet those prerequisites.

Had everything been done correctly, there would have been enough signatures to force a vote on the ordinance. Dave Welch, leader of the Houston Area Pastor Council, said that his group would decide by August 6 whether to file suit challenging the dismissal.

Welch's group used the specter of "men in dresses" in women's restrooms to drum up support for their repeal effort against the trans-inclusive ordi-

nance.

"We would like to comment Mayor Annise Parker and the people of Houston for their leadership in successfully resisting this effort to roll back equality for LGBTQ people," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "Houston has a reputation as a place that welcomes everyone as we discovered earlier this year when it played host to our Creating Change conference. It is clearly a place where people can be themselves and bring their whole selves to work, to school, and to life. Yesterday's announcement shows that this reputation is well deserved."

Gay man takes gold in Games

Glasgow, Scotland-Tom Daley, the openly gay United Kingdom diver, took

the gold medal in the 10-meter platform event at the Commonwealth Games on August 2.

He also took a silver a day earlier in the 10-meter platform pairs with fellow diver James Denny. The pairs saw gay Australian diver Matthew Mitcham and Domonic Bedggood taking gold in the pairs competition.

The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial sporting festival in which members of the Commonwealth of Nations, formerly the British Commonwealth, compete against each other, like a more insular Olympics or a less divine Gay Games. The Games include many typical sports, along with some played primarily in Commonwealth countries. In addition to the 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, a number of other territories send teams under their own flags, and the four United Kingdom countries each send their own team.

Continued on page 22

CM CHRISTOPHER A. MURRAY

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