Implications of Obergefell for Same-Sex Marriage, Divorce, and Parental Rights

2018 ◽  
pp. 7-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy J. Knauer
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Nontraditional Families ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Domestic Partnerships

This chapter examines the implications of the landmark US Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges for same-sex marriage, divorce, and parental rights. Heralded as one of the most significant civil rights victories in recent memory, Obergefell had an immediate impact on the lives of same-sex couples by providing uniform and nationwide access to both marriage and divorce. It ended a confusing patchwork of state laws, some of which recognized same-sex marriage and some of which prohibited not only same-sex marriage but also domestic partnerships and civil unions. Obergefell also ensured that all same-sex married couples would be eligible for federal benefits regardless of where they lived. The longer-term effects and applications of Obergefell remain unclear, especially with respect to parental rights. In addition, Obergefell has ignited a backlash of religious exemptions law and concern remains that marriage equality may further marginalize nontraditional families and those who choose not to marry.

The Early 2000s

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-144
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
State Laws ◽  
State Supreme Court ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 9 tells the story of Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court decision that finally struck down the remaining state laws that criminalized sodomy. In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to have marriage equality, following the state supreme court decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. Opponents of gay rights fought furiously to overturn marriage equality in Massachusetts, but once straight people saw that marriage equality cost them nothing, the opposition faded away. Gay rights groups in Massachusetts prevailed despite having many institutional disadvantages. In California in 2008, Proposition 8 was passed by voters to reintroduce a same-sex marriage ban.

Love and (Polygamous) Marriage?

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily M. Crookston
Keyword(s):  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Sufficient Reason ◽  
Harm Principle ◽  
Slippery Slope ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Polygamous Marriage ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
Domestic Partnerships

Opponents of same-sex marriage suggest that legalizing same-sex marriage will start a slide down a “slippery-slope” leading to the legalization of all kinds of salacious family arrangements including polygamy. In this paper, I argue that because previous attempts by liberal political theorists to combat such slippery-slope arguments have been unsuccessful, there are two options left open to political liberals. Either one could embrace polygamy as a logically consistent implication of extending civil liberties to same-sex couples or one could find a new strategy for blocking the slide down the slope. I take the second option arguing that we ought to devise a harm principle for domestic partnerships. Once this principle has been established, it becomes clear that the risk of exploitation for those potentially occupying the multiple side of the marriage is sufficient reason to reject polygamous marriage arrangements. I conclude that, contrary to appearances, holding both (a) same-sex marriage is permissible and (b) polygamous marriage is impermissible is at the same time consistent and consistently liberal.

scholarly journals What's in a Name Case? Some Lessons for the Debate Over the Free Movement of Same-Sex Couples Within the EU

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn van den Brink
Keyword(s):  
Married Couples ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Member States ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
The Eu

This Article engages the debate over the free movement of same-sex couples and explores what can, and should, be learned from the case law on the recognition of names. These “name cases” provide valuable lessons for both the proponents and opponents of same-sex marriage recognition. These cases show, first, that Member States are under the presumption to recognize marriages performed in other Member States. This Article also considers the importance of the national and constitutional identities of the Member States and suggests that there remains a possibility that Member States may justify the non-recognition of a marriage or deprive same-sex couples of some of the rights heterosexual married couples benefit from. The Article explores how the EU is confronted with a federal clash of values and offers some suggestions on how to solve this clash.

Courts and Same-Sex Marriage in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximiliano Campana ◽  
Juan Marco Vaggione
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The Right ◽  
Lgbt Movement

Same-sex marriage has become one of the LGBT movement’s main demands in Latin America in the past decade. Argentina was the first Latin American country to recognize same-sex marriage in 2010, and it has been replicated in other countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Mexico. In all these cases, the courts have been an important ally of the LGBT movement, generating the constitutional grounds and decisions for the recognition and expansion of the rights of same-sex couples. In this sense, litigation has proved to be a powerful strategy for LGBT groups for their demands of recognition, and in the analyzed cases, the judiciary has been receptive to these petitions and claims assuming different roles. The litigation experience in Latin America has been shaped by the U.S. litigation model for the advancements of civil rights, a model that has had an impact in the LGBT campaigns for same-sex marriage, and as a result it is possible to identify different roles that the Latin-American courts have played in protecting same-sex couples and legally recognizing their partnerships in the region. Thus the historical developments of the strategic litigation have been crucial for the recognition and advancement of rights, generating a type of litigation that was originated in the United States and later replicated in Latin America, thanks to institutional changes and successful experiences of same-sex marriage litigation. However, the courts have assumed different roles when recognizing the right to marriage between same-sex couples in the region, according to the legal, social, political, and international context where they are inserted, showing that the “politization of the justice” and the “judicialization of politics” are two interconnected procceses that combine in different and complex manners when debating sexuality in the region.

The Civil Partnership Act 2004, Same-Sex Marriage and the Church of England

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (38) ◽  
pp. 289-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Current Conception ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Civil Partnership ◽  
Practical Effect ◽  
The Church

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 enables same-sex couples to enter into a status that provides very many of the same rights and responsibilities that married couples have in respect to each other and the wider community. This paper first considers the extent of the legal similarities between civil partnerships and marriage; that is to what extent civil partnerships are 'same-sex marriage' in practical effect. Secondly it considers to what extent the conceptual understanding of civil partnerships within the Act reflects the current conception of marriage within English law; that is the extent to which civil partnerships are 'same-sex marriage' in theory. Thirdly, and finally, some of the specific dilemmas for the Church of England in the light of this are considered.

Navigating Illegitimacy

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-164
Author(s):  
Sandra Patton-Imani ◽  
Sandra Patton-Imani
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Hospital Care ◽  
First Century ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Care Education ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Legal Precedent ◽  
Laws And Policies

I explore the first few years of the twenty-first century through the stories of mothers negotiating a sense of belonging and legitimacy in a sociopolitical context of shifting laws and policies about same-sex marriage and adoption. I explore the ways that mothers navigate the treacherous terrain of socializing their children in a society that denigrates their families—for example, in hospital care, education, and transracial adoption. I explore legal changes in Vermont in 2000 and Massachusetts in 2003 legalizing same-sex unions, and the ways these decisions lay legal groundwork for the widespread use of the civil rights movement as an analogy for the “marriage equality” movement. The legal strategy of arguing for the rights of same-sex couples to marry based on the harms that illegitimacy will impose on their children emerged as an important legal precedent that shaped the way same-sex marriage was legalized federally in 2015.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 247-272
Author(s):  
Sandra Patton-Imani
Keyword(s):  
White Supremacy ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Economic Stratification ◽  
The Family ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
Tribal Affiliation

I revisit my argument that legalizing same-sex marriage both provided new rights and benefits to same-sex couples and further entrenched structures of inequality grounded in patriarchy, white supremacy, and economic stratification. I explore my research questions about how same-sex marriage was legalized and what that change may mean. The short answer is: It depends on whom you ask. Intersections of race, gender, tribal affiliation, socioeconomic status, and region show how same-sex marriage affects families in different social locations. I explore the meanings of the 2015 US Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage federally through three allegories. The family-making narratives of queer mothers articulate a critique of the contemporary US system of regulating and disseminating the rights of citizenship through legal marriage. I draw on these intersectional stories to envision coalitions and intersections between and among people and families whose lives are not recognized, valued, and protected in the United States.

Emerging Legal Issues in Same-Sex Divorces

2018 ◽  
pp. 383-401
Author(s):  
Frederick Hertz
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Registered Partnership ◽  
Lgbt Community

There is no such thing as “gay marriage.” Rather, it is “straight” marital law that is applied to same-sex couples, with its well-established heteronormative rules of shared assets and debts, potential obligation for postseparation financial support, and marriage-based rules of parentage. While marriage equality is rightly celebrated as a civil rights victory, it has resulted in a host of unanticipated challenges for couples dealing with the break-up of their marital or registered partnership/civil union relationships. This is especially true for recently married couples that lived together for decades as an unmarried couple due to the inability to marry. This chapter describes the recurring challenges faced by same-sex couples seen through the lens of a variety of case examples, as observed by a California family law attorney and mediator who specializes in same-sex dissolutions, and who has been working with the LGBT community for more than thirty years.

scholarly journals Introduction: For Better or For Worse? Relational Landscapes in the Time of Same-Sex Marriage

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Yarbrough
Keyword(s):  
Married Couples ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
Full Volume

This paper is a pre-print version of the introduction chapter to the edited volume, Queer Families and Relationships After Marriage Equality, published with Routledge in 2018. As same-sex marriage has become a legal reality in a rapidly growing list of countries, the time has come to assess what this means for families and relationships on the ground. Many scholars have already begun to examine how marriage is helping some same-sex couples, but in this introduction I call for a broader and more critical research agenda. In particular, I argue that same-sex marriage crystallizes a key tension surrounding families and relationships in many contemporary societies. On the one hand, strict family norms are relaxing in many places, allowing more people to form more diverse types of caring relationships. On the other hand, some relationships continue to be more honored and protected than others. I frame the spread of same-sex marriage as an opportunity to study this tension, and I argue that queer critiques of marriage provide useful tools for helping ground such research. I argue for research that sees same-sex marriage not as an isolated shift in the status of some same-sex couples, but instead as embedded in broader “relational landscapes” where different relationships of different types intersect with each other and shape each other. Such research would highlight inequalities among married couples and between married and unmarried people, and it would trace changes in other relationship forms outside of same-sex marriage itself. I describe how the chapters in this volume pursue these goals, helping develop queer and other critiques of marriage to lay the groundwork for a contextualized, critical research program on families and relationships after same-sex marriage. For the full volume this chapter introduces, please visit https://www.routledge.com/Queer-Families-and-Relationships-After-Marriage-Equality/Yarbrough-Jones-DeFilippis/p/book/9781138557468.

Can Same-Sex Partners Consent to Organ Donation?

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Roderick T. Chen ◽  
Alexandra K. Glazier
Keyword(s):  
Organ Donation ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Sex Partners ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Civil Union ◽  
Organ Donations ◽  
Domestic Partnerships ◽  
Appeals Court ◽  
Estate Law

As more same-sex couples enter into civil unions and domestic partnerships, the courts and other institutions are beginning to consider the implications of these partnerships in several areas of the law. A Georgia appeals court, for example, recently published the first opinion addressing this issue, ruling that a civil union of two women, obtained in Vermont, was not equivalent to a marriage for the purposes of interpreting a child custody agreement entered into in Georgia. As many observers predicted, the enactment of legislation recognizing same-sex partnerships has profound implications on the practice of family law, trust and estate law and healthcare law.This Article focuses on an area of healthcare law in which the legal status of a civil union or domestic partnership could have significant consequences—organ donations. In particular, it explores whether a civil union or domestic partner is an appropriate party to consent to an organ donation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document