LeGaL LGBT Podcast

After reading the names and ages of the victims of the Orlando attack, discussion of: (1) all of the competing legal moves over the last month in reaction to the terrible new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi; (2) some thorny issues involving the retroactivity of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision that we have seen several courts wrestling with as of late; and (3) legislative action in Italy that finally offers some relationship recognition to same-sex couples. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to LGBT Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) a ruling out of the Fourth Circuit calling into question the bathroom provisions of North Carolina's H.B. 2; (2) another in a series of New York appellate court decisions finding a way around the draconian Alison D. rule for parental standing; (3) an update on a 2014 story about a gay man suing over a public nudity arrest at San Diego Pride in 2011; and (4) an Oklahoma court that concluded oral sex is not rape if a victim is unconscious from drinking.  Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to LGBT Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) a bad week in March for the Alabama Supreme Court, with a final concession on marriage equality and a reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court; (2) horrible anti-LGBT bills signed into law by the governors of North Carolina and Mississippi; (3) a federal court enjoining Mississippi from enforcing its ban on same-sex couples adopting; and (4) a bench slap from the First Circuit against a federal district court judge in Puerto Rico who did not think Obergefell applied there.  Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to LGBT Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the legacy of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and how a nomination from President Obama to fill his seat may play out; (2) big parental rights wins for gay parents out of Kentucky and New Jersey; (3) a New York federal court grappling with the big question of whether Title VII covers sexual orientation discrimination; and (4) a sloppy Delaware health care provider that owes over $1 million in damages for leaking a man's HIV-positive status to his co-workers.  Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to LGBT Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) a retroactive application of Windsor that may save a pension benefit for a lesbian widow; (2) an unanimous decision from the New York Appellate Division rejecting all of the statutory and constitutional defenses raised by the owners of an upstate wedding venue that discriminated against a same-sex couple; (3) panel and en banc rulings from a Texas appeals court denying standing to a transgender man seeking custody and visitation of children adopted by his former partner; and (4) a case raising the question of whether disability discrimination laws can shield HIV-positive individuals from being fired for using medical marijuana as recommended by a doctor.  Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to LGBT Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the U.S. Supreme Court's stay of a novel Alabama Supreme Court ruling involving the Full Faith and Credit Clause, signaling the strong possibility of a reversal; (2) another positive federal court decision finding that sexual orientation discrimination is covered sex discrimination, this time in the context of Title IX; (3) an additional big antidiscrimination development from a Massachusetts state court that found a Catholic school could not discriminate against a gay married man who applied to be the school's food services director; and (4) a bump in the road for Lambda Legal's federal court class action attempting to change Wisconsin's bad policy on birth certificates for the children of married same-sex couples.  Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to LGBT Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) decisions from appellate courts in Oklahoma and Michigan extending standing for former partners in lesbian couples to seek custody or visitation of children they previously raised together as part of a couple; (2) an important new precedent from a New York federal court holding that all discrimination against transgender people by the government or any agent of the government is presumptively unconstitutional; (3) a ruling out of a Michigan federal court finding that the plaintiffs challenging the state policy for changing their gender on driver licenses sufficiently alleged a constitutionally-protected privacy interest in avoiding disclosure of their transgender status; and (4) two Mississippi Supreme Court justices who believe Obergefell can be ignored. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the latest developments concerning antidiscrimination law for the LGBT community, including the bad news out of Houston, the good news out of New York, and a stamp of approval for the EEOC's latest interpretation of Title VII from a federal judge; (2) an update on marriage equality in Ireland and Italy; (3) how a New York judge handled the dissolution of a Vermont civil union; and (4) a very funny ruling arising out of a gay male couple's plastic surgery. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) how the Alabama Supreme Court manufactured a jurisdictional issue in order to deny recognition to a second-parent adoption granted in Georgia; (2) an interesting implied retroactive application of Obergefell in a tenant succession case here in New York; (3) some terrific news out of the Ninth Circuit for transgender individuals seeking refuge in the United States under the Convention against Torture; and (4) an update on the Kim Davis saga since we last recorded in early September. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the latest on the big "religious liberty" challenges to marriage equality, including the Kim Davis saga in Kentucky and a decision out of Colorado in a case concerning a baker's refusal to make a wedding cake for a gay couple; (2) the raid on the Rentboy.com website and the federal charges brought against its owner and employees; (3) a Maryland intermediate appellate court decision finding that a nonbiological mother did not have standing to pursue visitation; and (4) the introduction of the Equality Act by Democrats in Congress over the summer. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the groundbreaking U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation is necessarily sex discrimination covered by Title VII; (2) how implementation of the Obergefell marriage equality decision has been going; (3) a new legal theory the Second Circuit opened up for a transgender union member claiming discrimination; and (4) an interesting argument made by a New York gay man's relatives after he died to try and overturn the wishes laid out in his will. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

This special edition of the podcast covers the momentous June 26, 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, striking down all remaining state bans on same-sex marriage.  It includes analysis of Justice Kennedy's majority opinion and all of the dissents, as well as discussion of how the decision has been received in the last remaining holdout states and what is next for the LGBT rights movement. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal & legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the marriage equality referendum in Ireland on May 22 and some other domestic developments on the marriage equality front; (2) several court decisions from the past month that collectively highlight the diverse legal landscape across the country for same-sex couples with children; (3) a new Title VII ruling involving a fired gay pilot; and (4) the denial of habeas relief handed down to an Idaho prisoner potentially incarcerated for 44 years for HIV exposure. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the blockbuster oral argument on April 28 at the U.S. Supreme Court in the consolidated marriage equality and recognition cases from the Sixth Circuit, plus some minor updates from Kentucky and several of the federal circuits; (2) the mixed big this past month in several significant discrimination and prisoner rights cases involving transgender plaintiffs; and (3) an interesting ruling out of the intermediate appellate court in Kentucky concerning the standing of an ex-partner to intervene in a step-parent adoption after her former lesbian partner got married to a man. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.

Discussion of: (1) the legislative developments in Utah, Indiana, and Arkansas that dominated the month of March; (2) all of the marriage equality litigation news from the last few weeks, including a look at who will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of April; (3) an important ruling from the New Jersey Supreme Court that may imperil a high-profile gay hate crime conviction; and (4) an interesting federal court decision about whether Grindr owes a duty of care to users of the gay hookup app. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and to subscribe to Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication summarizing legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad.