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A celebration ensued after the Connecticut high court ruled, ‘in light of the history of pernicious discrimination faced by gay men and lesbians … the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm.’ (Photo by Bob Child/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: REBECCA ARMENDARIZ
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Election Day results that included Barack Obama’s victory and the passage of Proposition 8 in California topped gay news in 2008. Here’s a look back at the rest of the year’s top stories.
Connecticut court grants gay couples right to wed
While same-sex couples in California briefly won the right to marry last year, the Golden State was not the only place where gays gained that right.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in October that same-sex couples had the right to marry and that a civil unions law enacted by the state three years ago failed to provide gay people with the “status and significance” of marriage.
In a 4-3 decision, the court concluded that, “the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm.”
Justices ruled that sexual orientation “constitutes a quasi-suspect classification,” opening the way for the court to declare the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional and for gays to begin marrying there Nov. 12.
Meanwhile, in New York, same-sex couples gained marriage recognition in May when Gov. David Paterson (D) ordered state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
Gay couples remained unable to marry in New York, but after Democrats took control of the state Senate on Election Day, advocates hoped the state would legalize same-sex marriage in the next legislative session.
Ballot defeats sting gays in Florida, Arizona, Arkansas
California’s Proposition 8 wasn’t the only defeat gays suffered on Election Day. Ballot initiatives banning same-sex marriage passed in Arizona and Florida, and voters in Arkansas approved a measure that precludes same-sex couples from adopting children.
In 2006, Arizona was the first state to reject a ban on same-sex marriage. That proposal was written so broadly that it could have affected certain benefits for unmarried straight couples. This year’s rematch, Proposition 102, was strictly a vote on gay marriage, and passed with 56 percent of the vote.
In Florida, Amendment 2 won the 60 percent it needed to pass, making the state among the 30 that now have laws defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, 57 percent of voters made it illegal for unmarried people who are living together to adopt or provide foster care to children.
Mississippi’s law prohibits gay couples from adopting, and Utah has a law similar to the one in Arkansas. Florida is the only state with an outright ban on single gay people adopting, though Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled Florida’s ban on gay parents is illegal on Nov. 25.
Lederman’s ruling allows Martin Gill and his partner to adopt two brothers, ages 4 and 8, for whom they have cared since 2004. The case is likely to eventually reach the Florida Supreme Court.
Gays, lesbians named to Obama’s transition team
President-elect Barack Obama named seven openly gay people to his transition team two weeks after he won the White House.
The transition, a team of more than 300 people, reviews federal departments and agencies. Three of the gay appointees — businessman Fred P. Hochberg, former San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, and labor attorney Elaine Kaplan — served in the Clinton administration.
Hochberg was President Clinton’s deputy and later acting administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Achtenberg worked in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Kaplan served in the Clinton administration as head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Kaplan enacted non-discrimination policies for gays and lesbians that were later reversed by her replacement, Scott Bloch.
Michael Guest, President Bush’s former ambassador to Romania, was named to the team to review issues pertaining to the State Department; Rick Stamberger, president and CEO of SmartBrief, Inc., reviewed the White House Fellows Program; and Brad Kiley, an official from the Center for American Progress think tank, and Thomas Soto, co-founder of Craton Equity Partners, a “clean technology” investment fund, served on panels reviewing the Executive Office of the President.
Obama later appointed Nancy Sutley, an open lesbian, to a role in his administration’s environmental team. But some activists criticized Obama failing to appoint a gay Cabinet member.
House committee reviews ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
The first congressional hearing dedicated to the issue of gays in the military in 15 years took place in 2008 with lawmakers examining whether “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should be continued in the U.S. military.
Witnesses before the House Armed Services personnel committee hearing in July included retired Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, who is gay and was the first U.S. service member wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and retired Capt. Joan Darrah, a lesbian and former naval intelligence officer.
But much of the ...
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