Tenn. appeals court rules 2nd time for gay mother

JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Court of Appeals has for a second time struck down a judge’s ruling in a child custody agreement that prevents a lesbian mother and her partner of more than 10 years from living together.

The so-called paramour clause was first imposed in May 2008 by Gibson County Chancellor George Ellis, prohibiting overnight stays by Angel Chandler’s partner. The restriction was not requested by Chandler’s ex-husband and came despite an evaluation finding no harm to their children.

According to court records, Chandler and her partner have moved to near Asheville, N.C., where they were maintaining separate residences in order to comply with the custody agreement. But that became a financial burden and the two started living together again, effectively preventing the children from being able to visit.

The appeals court in Jackson struck down Ellis’ ruling last year, writing that state law requires the primary consideration for custody arrangements be what’s in the best interest of the children.

Ellis issued a new ruling in March, but imposed the paramour clause again, stating, “A paramour overnight, abuse of alcohol and abuse of drugs are clearly common sense understanding that children can be adversely affected by such exposure....”

Chandler’s ex-husband remarried, but as lesbians, Chandler and her partner cannot legally marry in Tennessee, meaning her partner continues to be considered a paramour despite the longevity of their relationship.

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Arrestee in SF pride shooting pleads not guilty

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco man arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a weekend gay pride event has pleaded not guilty to two felony gun charges.

Twenty-year-old Ed Perkins was initially arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of 19-year-old Stephen Powell. But prosecutors say there is not enough evidence to pursue a murder charge.

Perkins pleaded not guilty to possessing a concealed weapon and possessing a loaded weapon during his arraignment on Wednesday.

He remains in jail on $100,000 bail. A preliminary hearing has been set for July 14.

Police say they are still not ruling Perkins out as the triggerman in Powell’s death. Powell was shot during a street party in San Francisco’s Castro district late Saturday.

Kagan on way to Supreme Court confirmation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s pick for the top U.S. court, Elena Kagan, is speeding toward confirmation, with Republicans showing little appetite for a long-shot attempt to block her.

Barring an unexpected turn, Kagan will succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens and become the fourth female justice in the U.S. Supreme Court’s history. It would be the first time that three of the court’s nine justices were women.

“Solicitor General Kagan will be confirmed,” said Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Judiciary Committee considering her nomination.

Republicans sparred with her over abortion, gays in the military and other divisive issues, but Jon Kyl, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said it would “highly unlikely” that Republicans would attempt a filibuster, a delaying tactic meant to block voting.

Republican committee member Sen. John Cornyn, when asked if Kagan was going to win confirmation, replied “I assume she will be.”

Kagan, 50, spent her last day before the committee Wednesday trying to reassure conservatives that she would be able to separate her personal and political views from a job as a justice on the ideologically split Supreme Court.

“Every judge has to do what he or she thinks the law requires,” she said. “But on the other hand, there’s no question that the court is served best and our country is served best when people trust the court as an entirely nonpolitical body.”

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Decade after Vt. civil unions, issue reverberates

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — When Lois Farnham and Holly Puterbaugh were joined in civil union 10 years ago Thursday, some of their friends didn’t come for fear they’d lose their jobs, and the church asked that plainclothes police officers attend the ceremony in case there was trouble.

A decade later, Vermont and four other states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Iowa, as well as the District of Columbia — have instituted full marriage for same-sex couples, and the Burlington couple say many people view their relationship as “ho-hum.”

Vermont was the first jurisdiction in the country to offer most of the legal rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples. Massachusetts instituted full same-sex marriage in 2004 in response to a state court’s order. Last year, Vermont’s Legislature became the first to approve full marriage for those couples without a court’s prompting.

“At the time, civil unions were so radical,” Farnham said this week. “Now it’s the fallback, conservative issue.”

In addition to the five same-sex marriage states, five others_ California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and New Jersey — have broad domestic partnership or civil union laws similar to what Vermont passed in 2000, according to Freedom to Marry, a national group that advocates full marriage for same-sex couples.

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Icelandic leader in milestone gay marriage

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Iceland’s prime minister made history last week when she wed her longtime girlfriend, becoming the world’s first head of government to enter a gay marriage.

But fellow Nordic nations hardly noticed when 67-year-old Johanna Sigurdardottir tied the knot with her longtime partner — a milestone that would still, despite advances in gay rights, be all but inconceivable elsewhere.

Scandinavia has had a long tradition of tolerance — and cross-dressing lawmakers and gay bishops have become part of the landscape.

“There is some kind of passion for social justice here,” respected cross-dressing Swedish lawmaker Fredrick Federley said. “That everybody should be treated the same.”

Gay rights activists said Europe in general has a better record on accepting gays at the highest levels of government than the United States.

“In the current climate of U.S. public opinion it is impossible to imagine a U.S. president who is openly gay and who marries their longtime partner,” said Peter Tatchell, spokesman for the London-based gay human rights group Outrage.

“In Europe the reaction is completely different — people just don’t care.”

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Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds same-sex marriage ban

In a long-awaited decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the 2006 voter referendum amending the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

The unanimous 7-0 decision did not directly address the marriage issue but rather a legal technicality involving the referendum process.

Bill McConkey, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science instructor, filed suit in 2007 arguing that the marriage referendum violated state law requiring that such proposals can only address a single subject. He argued that because voters were asked whether the state should ban both same-sex marriage and “identical or substantially similar arrangements,” they were denied the opportunity to vote “no” on one part and “yes” on the other.

Polls in Wisconsin and elsewhere have shown that many voters who reject the concept of same-sex marriage nonetheless support civil unions, and McConkey maintained that the two issues should have been presented separately.

Representing the state, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen countered that the referendum was legal because the two parts of the amendment were closely related and served the same purpose of preserving “the unique status of marriage.”

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