Federal appeals court rules DOMA unconstitutional; lesbian councilwoman may become NYC’s next mayor; gay students graduating openly at military academies; and other recent LGBTQ news selected by Sara Boesser in Juneau, Alaska (with supplemental info from Bent Alaska).

Federal appeals court rules DOMA unconstitutional

On May 31, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional in Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management et al. (Gill v. OPM). The decision marks the first time a federal appeals court has found DOMA unconstitutional.

Court: Heart of Gay Marriage Law Unconstitutional
ABC OTUS News, May 31, 2012

A federal appeals court Thursday declared that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married gay couples, a ruling all but certain to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In its unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the 1996 law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman discriminates against gay couples because it doesn’t give them the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples.

The case was brought on behalf of 19 plaintiffs — legally married couples and widowers in Massachusetts — by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), based in Boston. GLAD has a complete resource with all the legal documents and background information in Gill v. OPM and another DOMA Section 3 challenge case, Pedersen v. OPM, which is currently awaiting a decision in the U.S. District Court of the District of Connecticut.

The First Appeals Court found that, under DOMA, same-sex couples legally married in Massachusetts were being denied federal benefits which were routinely provided to heterosexual couples — a situation which cannot withstand legal scrutiny. The decision does not address whether gays and lesbians have a fundamental right to marry under the Constitution, or the provision of DOMA that excuses states from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or nations.

Further news coverage of the First Circuit ruling can be found in the mainstream media —

The New York Times | Boston Globe | Washington Post | National Public Radio | Associated Press | New Yorker

— and in the LGBT media:

The Advocate | MetroWeekly | The Bilerico Project

Bent Alaska tweeted several items when this story broke on May 31:

• Another federal ruling > BREAKING: Federal appeals court says DOMA is unconstitutional | LGBT/POV http://t.co/RoN3XHH7 #
• More: new DOMA ruling unanimous decision from 1st Circuit federal appeals court, likely to go to SCOTUS | HuffPo http://t.co/YO4OHnzK #
• More: new DOMA ruling is in a case being fought for us by @GLADLaw — here’s all the paperwork: http://t.co/TsyQY8ba. Thanks, GLAD!#
• More from @TheAdvocateMag on 1st Circuit appeals court ruling DOMA unconstitutional http://t.co/PtIwDAVG#
• Analysis: What the First Circuit appeals court DOMA decision means | The Bilerico Project http://t.co/LXiECSVM#

LGBT politicians

Lesbian leads top cop in NY mayor polling
New York, AFP, May 10, 2012

New York could get its first woman — and lesbian — mayor next year, according to a poll Thursday that showed influential city legislator Christine Quinn well ahead of popular Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Neither has declared their candidacy, but Quinn, a Democrat, has long been expected to try to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while Kelly is being urged to use his standing as top cop to run on the Republican ticket.

Post-DADT military

Gay students graduate openly at military academies
Annapolis, Md., Associated Press, May 27, 2012

For the first time, gay students at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis were able to take a same-sex date to the academy’s Ring Dance for third-year midshipmen. The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., officially recognized a club for gay students this month. And gay cadets at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., are relieved they no longer have to worry about revealing their sexuality.

Transgender

Arizona Court Recognizes Transgender Marriage: World’s First Married Pregnant Man Is Awarded Sole Legal Child Custody
Phoenix, AZ, PRWEB, May 24, 2012

Thomas Beatie, the world’s first married pregnant man, has been awarded sole legal custody of his three minor children as a transgender male as decided by a Phoenix Arizona judge today. Lawyers from Cantor Law Group see this as an important case towards legality of same-sex marriage in Arizona.

“Ex-gay” therapy

California’s historic ban on ‘gay therapy’ for kids
California, The Week, June 1, 2012

It’s been a rough few weeks for “gay conversion” therapy. On May 17, the World Health Organization issued a report calling gay-to-straght therapy “a serious threat to the health and well-being — even the lives — of affected people.” The next day, The New York Times reported that Dr. Robert Spitzer, a towering figure in psychiatry and one of the main intellectual sources underpinning such therapy — also called “reparative therapy” or “sexual reorientation” — is recanting his landmark 2003 study. And on Wednesday night, California took a big step toward becoming the first state to ban all forms of ex-gay therapy on minors.

Boy Scouts of America

Scout challenges anti-gay policy of Boy Scouts of America
Orlando, Florida, Reuters, May 30, 2012

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – An Eagle Scout known for his defense of same-sex civil unions delivered on Wednesday a petition signed by 275,000 people to the Boy Scouts of America demanding an end to the group’s exclusion of gays.

Zach Wahls, a 20-year-old engineering student at the University of Iowa who attained the organization’s highest rank of Eagle Scout, has two lesbian mothers. He became an Internet sensation in January 2011 when his address to the Iowa House of Representatives supporting gay civil unions logged more than 2.5 million views on YouTube.

Anti-LGBT groups

Victory Over One Million Moms?
Advocate, June 2, 2012

After the antigay group known as One Million Moms came under assault on Facebook for attacking the idea of a gay comic book character, OMM’s Facebook page went missing.

More from the New Civil Rights Movement:

The faux activist group One Million Moms has just disappeared from Facebook, by far its largest social media outlet. Earlier today administrators of the One Million Moms Facebook site posted a “warning” about Green Lantern being rebooted as gay, which they quickly pulled when over one hundred pro-gay comments flooded the post. Subsequently, they wrote a Facebook post stating they would be away for a week, possibly next week, for bible camp.

Religion

‘Radical Feminist’ Rogue Nuns in U.S. Stand Up to Vatican
Advocate, May 31, 2012

After Catholic leaders at the Vatican have condemned American nuns for caring too much about poverty and social justice, and not fighting against abortion or marriage equality, a group representing thousands of religious women is considering how to strike back.

Photo credits: (1) Nancy Gill & Marcelle Letourneau, two of of the plaintiffs in Gill v. OPM, courtesy GLAD. (2) Christine Quinn at the Vanity Fair party for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, 17 Apr 2012. Photo by David Shankbone. Via Wikimedia Commons.