Overview

As of this weekend, marriage equality has suddenly come to Australia — but there’s a catch. In fact, there are a lot of catches. Courts in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Utah could all be the first to rule on marriage in a post-DOMA world. And an equality lawsuit in Louisiana got knocked down, but not out.

Transcript

As of this weekend, marriage equality has suddenly come to Australia — but there’s a catch. In fact, there are a lot of catches. Courts in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Utah could all be the first to rule on marriage in a post-DOMA world. And an equality lawsuit in Louisiana got knocked down, but not out.

For the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I’m Matt Baume, and welcome to Marriage News Watch for December 9, 2013.

The first week of marriage equality has gone pretty smoothly. A few dozen couples married on the first day, and there’s been a steady stream of weddings since then. The University of Hawaii estimates that marriage will bring in $217 million over the next three years.

But State Rep Bob McDermott’s lawsuit to end the marriage continues to be a concern. He’ll have a hearing in mid-January.

Meanwhile, there are some questions over another lawsuit, Jackson v. Abercrombie. That suit was filed by months ago by equality organizers seeking to force the state to legalize marriage. Now that it’s actually happened, the court has asked the plaintiffs to either end the suit or prove why it should continue.

It’s unclear how the two lawsuits might affect each other, if at all. If McDermott is successful in stopping marriage equality, Jackson v. Abercrombie could be an effective means to re-instating it.

You might remember several months ago when a clerk in Pennsylvania started issuing marriage licenses. The state eventually ordered the clerk, D. Bruce Hanes, to stop after he issued nearly 200. Now he’s appealed the the state Supreme Court in an attempt to resume issuing those licenses. There’s no timeline for a ruling there, but a decision could be coming quite soon.

Or we might first get a ruling a Utah. A judge there heard arguments in a federal suit against that state’s marriage ban. As usual, lawyers defending the ban claimed that it would promote heterosexual procreation, but couldn’t explain how. The judge expects to rule sometime in January.

A lawsuit in Louisiana hit a snag last week. A judge there dismissed a challenge to the gay ban on a technicality, ruling that the couples couldn’t sue the state Attorney General. They plan to amend the ruling with a new defendant this week.

And finally this week, marriage equality is suddenly legal in Australia — but just in one small part, and possibly for just a few days. The Australian Capital Territory passed a marriage equality bill several weeks ago. It’s been challenged in court, but it’ll go into effect this weekend before the court can issue a ruling. So for at least the next few days, Australian couples will be able to marry, as long as they registered a month in advance.

Those are the headlines. Subscribe here on YouTube to stay up to date on all these stories. For the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I’m Matt Baume. Thanks for watching.