Until voters, lawmakers or courts say otherwise, Maryland will recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler stated in a Feb. 23 opinion. Gansler (pictured) was asked last year by state Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. whether the state would recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

Gansler's 53-page opinion noted that same-sex marriages are valid in "four New England states and Iowa," and that the District of Columbia "has enacted a bill subject to congressional review, that would authorize same-sex marriage in that jurisdiction beginning in the spring of 2010," and that a "number of foreign countries have also authorized same-sex marriage." Although Maryland law states that only "a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this State," Gansler noted that Maryland courts have held to "the general rule that a marriage valid where contracted or solemnized is valid everywhere, unless it is contrary to the public policy of the forum."

Gansler also ordered Maryland agencies start affording same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples, The Washington Post reported. In a press statement Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said, "I am confident that the Attorney General and his office will provide all necessary advice to state agencies on how to comply with the law. I expect all state agencies to work with the Attorney General's office to ensure compliance with the law."

The attorney general's opinion sparked derision from religious groups in the state and socially conservative state lawmakers, such as Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr., who said he would lodge "charges of impeachment" against Gansler.

Equality Maryland Executive Director Morgan Maneses-Sheets lauded the opinion, saying in press release, that it is "consistent with Maryland's public policy, which has steadily supported increasing legal protections for same-sex couples and their families. In recent years, the legislature has granted approximately 15 protections of legal marriages to same-gender couples in the areas for medical decision-making and inheritance."

Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) has signed an executive order removing protection for lesbians and gay men against discrimination in state jobs. McDonnell's order was signed earlier this month, The Washington Post reports, and rescinds an order that former Gov. Tim Kaine (D) signed in 2006 that added language to the state policy specifically barring discrimination against employees based on their sexual orientation. 

Talking Points Memo reported that McDonnell's chief of staff claimed that the new order still bars "any and all discrimination." Kaine declined comment on the matter, but his spokesperson Hari Sevugan told TPM that the governor's new order "says a lot about the Republican party that they would anoint as their ‘rising star' someone who in 2010 is actually stripping away from Americans legal protections against discrimination."

While the setback for equal rights in this country sparked consternation among civil liberties groups, several nations in Africa are taking aggressively muscular efforts to snuff out any attempts to even jump-start a movement for gay rights. For example, in Uganda a law is being pushed that would order a life sentence or death for gay men and lesbians.

In another example, Malawi's government is drawing worldwide attention for recently imprisoning two men for publicly celebrating their engagement at a lodge in Blantyre, reported The New York Times. Days after the celebration the men were imprisoned on charges of "unnatural acts and gross indecency" and have remained in jail. Some Malawi media coverage of the arrest has heralded the same-sex couple's celebration as "the first recorded public activity for homosexuals in this country." The nation's minister of information and civic affairs maintained, "These immoral acts are not in our culture; they are coming from outside. Otherwise, why is there interest from around the world? Why is money being sent?"

Organized religion in Malawi is also helping to stoke animus towards lesbians and gay men. The newspaper quoted Rev. Zacc Kawalala, head of World Alive Ministry, as saying, "The West has its gay agenda. It wants to look at Africa and say, ‘If you don't accept homosexuality, you are primitive. But we're not as wicked as the West."

Some Latin American nations, however, are seeing progress on equal rights for gay men and lesbians.

Recent polling suggests there may be growing public support for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the ban on openly lesbians and gay men serving in the military.

A Washington-Post-ABC News poll shows that "majorities across party lines favor" allowing gays to sever openly. The Washington Post, however, notes that the poll "reveals several sharp demographic divides. Men (65 percent) and seniors (69 percent) are less likely than are women (84 percent) and young adults (81 percent under age of 30) to say that gays should be allowed to serve if they have disclosed their sexual orientation. Knowing a gay person makes a big difference: Among those who say they have a gay friend or family member, 81 percent support allowing gay people to serve openly, compared with 66 percent who say they do not know someone who is gay."

The New York Times reported yesterday on a Times/CBS News poll that showed "a majority of the public supporting allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military." But The Times noted, the support for repeal varies depending on how the question is asked.

The Times reported:

The wording of the question proved to make a difference. Seven in 10 respondents said they favor allowing "gay men and lesbians" to serve in the military, including nearly 6 in 10 who said they should be allowed to serve openly. But support was somewhat lower among those who were asked about allowing "homosexuals" to serve, with 59 percent in favor, including 44 percent who support allowing them to serve openly.

The new polling follows President Obama's effort to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which was put in place during the Clinton administration, and top Pentagon officials' statements supporting a repeal. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, told a Senate committee that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," should be repealed. Adm. Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee "allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do."

Last fall, ACS hosted a panel discussion examining the history of the policy and the efforts for repealing it. Video of the discussion is available here. Following that panel discussion, Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow at the Palm Center, talked with ACSblog about the history and impact of the policy. See Frank's interview here.

Mexico City's progressive mayor and city assembly are "propelling the city to the forefront of the global gay rights movement," The New York Times reports. But unlike rudimentary change, societal change is never easy, as the newspaper notes.

On March 4 a city law will take effect that advances marriage equality by allowing gay couples to wed and adopt children. Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, and Catholic organizations, are waging a "fierce" campaign to scuttle the law. The attorney general has challenged the measure in the nation's Supreme Court arguing that the Constitution only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman. 

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, responding to the federal government's challenge to his city's efforts to advance equality said, "We are looking at the recognition of rights and liberties, and in this there is a big difference between conservatives and those of us with liberal or different or advanced ideas or rights."

The Mexico City lawmaker who proposed the law, David Razú, said the federal government is maintaining that the nation's Constitution only "protects heterosexual families."

The newspaper noted that efforts to advance the civil rights of lesbians and gay men are also moving forward in other Latin America countries, such as Argentina, one of the first to recognize civil unions, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia. 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the ban on openly gay service members, should be repealed.

"Last week, during the State of the Union address, the President announced that he will work with Congress this year to repeal the law known as ‘Don't Ask Don't Tell,'" Gates said in prepared testimony. "He subsequently directed the Department of Defense to begin preparations necessary for a repeal of the current law and policy.

"I fully support the President's decisions," Gates continued. "The question is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it. We have received our orders from the Commander in Chief and we are moving out accordingly. However, we also can only take this process so far as the ultimate decision rests with you, the Congress."

Adm. Mullen said, "No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens," The New York Times reported.

Mullen added that "allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do."

To prepare the armed forces for a possible repeal of the law, Gates said he appointed "a high-level working group within the department that will immediately begin review of the issues associated with properly implementing a repeal of the ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. The mandate of this working group is to thoroughly, objectively and methodically examine all aspects of this question and produce its finding and recommendations in the form of an implementation plan by the end of this calendar year."

The Times reported that the working group would be led by Jeh C. Johnson, the Defense Department's general counsel, and a frequent ACS participant, and Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe.

While the military is preparing for a possible repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Gates told senators that the Defense department would enforce it "in a more humane and fair manner." The Times reported yesterday that Defense Department officials indicated they would not "discharge service members whose sexual orientation is revealed by third parties ...."

An archived Webcast of today's hearing is available here.

In a press statement, Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, praised Gates for "supporting the President's view that DADT needs to go. It's a matter when and how, he said, not if. We also strongly applaud Chairman Mullen who unambiguously personally supported gays and lesbians serving openly. The top military brass of the United States just laid out a roadmap for full repeal."

For more on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," see video of a recent panel discussion hosted by ACS, in which Sarvis participated. 

[image via www.armybase.us]

The U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services will revisit the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which bars openly gay service members, for the first time in eighteen years tomorrow during a committee hearing. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to testify. The New York Times reported in today's edition that in White House sessions late last year, President Obama called the policy, which has resulted in the dismissal of scores of lesbians and gay men, "just wrong." Additionally, the newspaper reported that the president did not want his administration to wind up having to defend the constitutionality of the ban in federal court.

"Gay rights leaders say they expect Mr. Gates to announce in the interim that the Defense Department will not take action to discharge service members whose sexual orientation is revealed by third parties ..., one of the more onerous aspects of the law," The Times reported.

In the fall, ACS hosted a national event exploring the efforts to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which included comments from Erica Alva, a former Marine Staff sergeant, on the corrosive effects of the policy. Video of that discussion is here. Also, following the event, Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow at the Palm Center, talked with ACSblog about the history and impact of the policy. See Frank's interview here. 

On the heels of thrusting itself into the trial challenging the constitutionality of California's anti-gay marriage law, Proposition 8, the Supreme Court agreed to wade into Washington State litigation over a domestic partnership law. Recently the high court extended an order barring the delayed Internet broadcast of the Proposition 8 trial. Late last week, the justices announced they would review the Washington case involving whether the First Amendment trumps a state public records law.

The same advocacy group that urged the Supreme Court to block broadcast of the Proposition 8 trial, also called on the justices to block release of supporters' names of the ballot initiative, which failed in November to overturn the state's domestic partnership law. James Bopp Jr., a lawyer representing the petition signers, told The New York Times that the First Amendment protects "the rights of citizens who support a traditional definition of marriage to speak freely and without fear." Last fall, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit disagreed and upheld the state's public records law, saying, in part, that the signatures were gathered in public with no guarantee of remaining secret, the newspaper reported.

Linda Greenhouse, The Times' former Supreme Court correspondent, analyzed both cases for its Web site. Regarding the Washington State tussle, Greenhouse, also an ACS Board member, noted that pursuant to the state's public records law, "the signatures on the referendum petitions are public records, available for inspection and copying. The Public Records Act, itself the product of the public initiative process, provides as its rationale that ‘the people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created.'"

The high court has not set a date for oral argument in Doe v. Reed. 

[image via Clearly Ambiguous]

Hours before the start of the San Francisco trial over the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of the trial judge's order to show the trial on a delayed basis on YouTube. The high court's order in Hollingsworth v. Perry is in effect until Wednesday to allow the justices "further consideration" of it.

In a dissent to the temporary stay, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the supporters of banning Internet coverage of the trial had not shown a "likelihood of ‘irreparable harm.'" Last week U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, ruled that the trial could be recorded for public viewing on a delayed basis on YouTube. Supporters of Prop. 8 have argued that the showing of the trial would result in their witnesses being harassed. In a column for today's New York Times, former attorney general Edwin Meese accused Judge Walker of issuing a series of pre-trial orders "that have the effect of putting the sponsors of Proposition 8, and the people who voted for it, on trial." 

The lawsuit was lodged on behalf of gay couples by two frequently headline-grabbing litigators, Ted Olson and David Boies. The two high-profile practitioners have also represented opposing sides at the Supreme Court, such as during Bush v. Gore, when Olson was counsel for George W. Bush and Boies represented Al Gore. In a column for Newsweek, Olson, argues the "conservative case for gay marriage," writing, "Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize."

In a post for change.org, Michael A. Jones argues the "constitutional case for gay marriage," maintaining that the nation's "founding documents," the Constitution and Declaration of Independence support, same-sex marriage.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is once again "open for business," according to the division's new chief, Thomas Perez, in remarks to ACS members and covered live by C-SPAN.

"In the first 60 days that I've been on the job, we have already done as much hate crimes activity as was done in the entire fiscal year of 2006. And by the way, that was a leap year. And we've done as much as was done in fiscal year 2007," Perez told an ACS audience at the National Press Club, in a YouTube clip now available here. "Don't listen to my words, look at our actions."

Perez's commitment to restoring the division follows years of limited enforcement, decreased hiring of racial minorities, and a working environment that led African-Americans to be 50 percent more likely to quit or resign than were white employees. Under President George W. Bush, a scandal also arose around politicization in the division's case-selection and Justice Department hiring. "We will make sure that this chapter of our history is the best one yet," Perez declared in his conclusion, posted to YouTube courtesy of MainJustice.

Paul M. Smith, a longtime Supreme Court litigator and counsel for the plaintiffs in the landmark Supreme Court case, Lawrence v. Texas, recently talked with the American Constitution Society of Yale Law School about LGBT equal rights advancements, and setbacks. Smith, partner at Jenner & Block LLP and former chair of the ACS Board of Directors, told the Yale Law School chapter that the advancement for equality has been decidedly mixed, but there remained ample room for optimism.

He noted the referenda setbacks in California and Maine, but added, "We have marriage equality in five states, and the flood tide is still running very strongly in the direction of equality. "

"And so I'm very optimistic," Smith continued, "that in the next few years we will continue to make tremendous strides."

Smith also said that advocates for equality should push lawmakers to advance equal rights. "If anything," Smith added, "pressure should be ratcheted up. It [reform] needs to happen." See video of Smith's entire interview here or download it here. The interview followed a recent ACS Yale Law School chapter event, featuring Smith.