May, 13 2014, 12:47pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Robyn Shepherd, ACLU national, 212-519-7829 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, ACLU of Virginia, 804-523-2146 or 337-3233; Claire@acluva.org
Jonathan Adams, Lambda Legal, 646-752-3251; jadams@lambdalegal.org
Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments Against Virginia Marriage Ban
Court Will Hear From Lawyers Representing Class of All Same-Sex Couples in the State
RICHMOND, Va.
A federal appeals court will hear extended arguments today in a challenge to Virginia's constitutional and statutory bans on marriage for same-sex couples.
A federal judge struck down the bans in February in Bostic v. Rainey, a case brought by two couples in Norfolk who are represented by attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Virginia, Lambda Legal, and the law firm Jenner and Block represent a certified class of all same-sex couples in the state and joined the Bostic appeal to present arguments on the class's behalf. That class action was initially filed last August on behalf of Joanne Harris and Jessica Duff of Staunton and Christy Berghoff and Victoria Kidd of Winchester.
"We're hopeful that we'll finally be able to pledge our love to each other like any other couple that's ready to make that commitment," said Harris. "Jessi and I are completely devoted to each other, and it's important to us and to our son that our family is recognized in Virginia with all the dignity and protections that only come with marriage."
Harris and Duff have been together for 11 years and are raising a five-year-old son, Jabari. They had a commitment ceremony in 2011. Berghoff and Kidd were married in Washington, DC two years ago, but are considered single in their home state of Virginia. They have a one-year-old daughter, Lydia.
James Esseks, the director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project, will argue for the class during the hearing. Olson will argue for the Bostic plaintiffs and Stuart Raphael, the solicitor general, will argue for the commonwealth.
"All across the country courts are recognizing what a majority of Virginians already know -- that it's unfair to exclude same sex couples from marriage," said Esseks. "Today brings us one step closer to the day when all families are able to marry in their home states. Every family should know that they will be able to care for each other no matter what."
Today's arguments were heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The ruling could affect not only all couples in Virginia, but couples in other states under the court's jurisdiction, including West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
"We're in court today because thousands of Virginia's same-sex couples and their families experience real, concrete harms when Virginia marks them as unequal," said Greg Nevins, Lambda Legal Counsel. "Barring same-sex couples from marriage is clearly unconstitutional. We do not want a country divided by unfairness and discrimination. Same-sex couples are in loving, committed relationships in every region of our nation and should be treated the same way, whether they live in Maine or Virginia."
This is the second federal court of appeals this year to hear arguments about the constitutionality of a state marriage ban. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit heard arguments in challenges to the Utah and Oklahoma bans last month. Marriage cases are also pending before federal appeals courts for the Fifth (a case from Texas), Sixth (cases from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee), and Ninth (a case from Nevada) Circuits.
"All Virginians should be able to marry the person they love," said Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. "The families who are coming before the court today represent all of our loved ones, neighbors, and friends who just want the same recognition any family would want."
More information on this case can be found at: https://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/harris-et-al-v-mcdonnell-et-a
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
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Dec 12, 2024
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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"The way we're going to bring about the kind of fundamental changes we need in healthcare is, in fact, by a political movement which understands the government has got to represent all of us, not just the 1%," the senator told Jacobin.
The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
The organization has also filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court "for war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists," according to the roundup, which includes stats from January 1 through December 1.
"In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible," wrote Thibaut Bruttin, director general of RSF, in the introduction to the report. Since October 2023, 145 journalists have been killed in Gaza, "including at least 35 who were very likely targeted or killed while working."
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When counting the number of journalists killed by the Israeli army since October 2023 in both Gaza and Lebanon, the tally comes to 155—"an unprecedented massacre," according to the roundup.
Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
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