Coming Out In the Jury Pool

L.A. Vess has a column at LesbiaNation.com about her recent experience in a jury pool in South Carolina. For her, it became more than a day of reading and waiting when she and her fellow potential jurors were told the list of facts they would all be required to state about themselves: name, address, length of residence, employment, education, legal marital status and spouse's employment.



The remainder of the column discusses her reaction and response to being legally forced to declare herself single due to her being legally barred from being legally otherwise with the person she loves, and what she learned about equality, visibility and coming out.

RAF: Ask, Tell and Be Proud

While here in the US the continued application of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is ending military careers, keeping some of the bright and the best from enlisting in the first place, and in some cases leaving the military short-handed (such as in Arab language translators), such is not the case in the UK.



Gay men and lesbians were similarly barred from service in England's military until January 2000, after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK had violated a man's human rights by discharging him because he is gay. The case was Lustig-Prean and Beckett v UK.



Well, the RAF has straightened up and is flying right (so to speak), and is taking part in this Sunday's Pride Parade and Festival in Manchester. In addition to having a float carrying eight waving RAF members, they will also have a mobile recruiting station. This is no small event, either. Manchester Pride is "ten starry days and nights of partying, parade, film, arts & entertainment, sport and debating." Perhaps the RAF's presence will mark the beginning of a true Manchester United.

Child Custody Rulings

There have been a couple of rulings of interest this week in child custody cases.



In a Virginia case, Frederick County Judge John R. Prosser has determined that the Virginia court has jurisdiction to hear a child custody case between two women who had entered into a civil union in Vermont, although the case is already being handled in Vermont. The civil union has been dissolved in the Vermont courts, and a temporary custody decision has already been issued there.



Here in Massachusetts, the SJC in a 4-3 decision has determined that a woman (listed as B.L.) is not required to pay child support to her former partner, who had become pregnant while the pair were a couple, but who had not yet given birth at the time of their breakup. Justice Cowin wrote the opinion, with Justice Greaney penning the dissent.

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UPDATE: If the above link to the MA SJC opinion doesn't work (it seems to be intermittent), the case is T.F. vs. B.L. SJC-09104 August 25, 2004. You can get to it through the SJC site, or a legal database.

1913 Marriage Law Still Stands After Round One

Boston.com reports that the Superior Court Judge assigned the challenge to the 1913 marriage statute which is being used to deny marriage licenses to out of state gay couples has declined to enjoin the state from enforcing it. Judge Carol Ball did note that she felt the law does violate the spirit of Goodridge, and that she is troubled by the timing of the state's decision to enforce the long-ignored law.



The plaintiffs in the case plan to appeal, and all parties anticipate that the case will ultimately go before the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court. The decision can be found here, at GLAD's website.