Religion Clause

In Britain, Catholic Care, a Catholic adoption agency operating in South Yorkshire has won an appeal of a Charity Commission's refusal to grant it an exemption from the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007. Yesterday's Yorkshire Post reports that a High Court judge sitting in London has ordered the Charity Commission to review its determination. Catholic Care offers specialized adoption services, and is the last of the Catholic adoption agencies in Britain to continue the fight against regulations that would require them to allow adoptions by same-sex couples. Catholic ...

Under Israeli law, marriage is handled by religious authorities of each recognized religious community-- Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze. Israel has had no civil marriage, though civil marriages performed in other countries are recognized. (Background.) Israel's Knesset yesterday by a vote of 56-4 passed a civil union bill that allows a man and woman both of whom have no religious affiliation to, for the first time, enter a civil union though a new marriage registrar bureau. The bill was introduced by the Israel Beiteinu party. The bill passed with the two major Jewish religious ...

According to a CNA report this week, a federal judge in Argentina has nullified the same-sex marriage of two men that was performed at Buenos Aires' Civil Registry earlier this month. The court ruled that the marriage was invalid "because of the absence of the institution's structural elements." The court ordered the men to return their marriage license and ruled that any legal effects derived from the marriage ceremony are suspended. The marriage was originally performed after a City Court judge ordered the Civil Registry to provide the couple with a date for their ceremony. (Buenos Aires ...

Less than a week after Virgina's attorney general told public colleges in the state that they may not ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression (see prior posting), Virgina Governor Robert McDonnell has taken a somewhat different view. He issued Executive Directive 1 (2010) prohibiting employment discrimination by cabinet members or executive branch agencies. It reads in part: The Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits discrimination without a rational basis against any class of persons. Discrimination based on factors ...

According to Pink News, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on Monday refused permission to appeal the decision in Ladele v. London Borough of Islington. In the case the Court of Appeals of England and Wales agreed with Britain's Employment Appeals Tribunal that a Christian marriage registrar was not subjected to illegal discrimination when she was disciplined and threatened with dismissal for refusing on religious grounds to register same-sex civil partnerships. (See prior posting.) The Supreme Court said the case did not raise legal issues of "general public importance." Ladele is ...

The U.S. Supreme Court this morning granted certiorari in Snyder v. Phelps, (Docket No. 09-751, March 8, 2010). (Order List.) In the case in which review has been granted, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the Westboro Baptist Church and its leaders that a $5 million judgment against them growing out of their picketing of the funeral of Iraq veteran Matthew Snyder violated their free speech rights. Westboro members have gained notoriety for their picketing of veterans' funerals carrying signs attacking America's acceptance of gays. In the case, Snyder's father claimed that ...

According to the Washington Post, Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II on Thursday sent a letter (full text) to the state's public colleges and universities advising them that: the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including "sexual orientation," "gender identity," "gender expression," or like classification, as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.

In Farmington, New Mexico's recent municipal elections, the campaign manager for one of the losing City Council candidates secretly designed a scorecard to rank local candidates on their religious and social values. Yesterday's Farmington Daily Times says that candidate Bob Moon did not know that his campaign manager, Drew Degner, had designed the questionnaire that asked closed-end questions about issues such as church attendance, abortion rights and gay marriage. Some candidates refused to answer the questions and are critical of it. Degner said he designed the survey in order to help ...

Following up on their pledge to be in compliance with D.C. same-sex marriage law that takes effect today, Catholic Charities of Washington has stopped offering benefits to spouses of new employees. This avoids charges that the organization is illegally discriminating on the basis of marital status were it to refuse to recognize same-sex partners. CNS and Beliefnet report that the change will not affect employees whose spouses are currently covered. A letter to Catholic Charities employees from its CEO said: "We sincerely regret that we have to make this change, but it is necessary to allow ...

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has refused to grant a stay to prevent the District of Columbia’s Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act from taking effect today. In an in chambers opinion in Jackson v. District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics, (Sup. Ct., March 2, 2010), the Chief Justice said that it has been the practice of the Court to defer to defer to the decisions of the courts of the District of Columbia on matters of exclusively local concern. Congress has chosen not to override the D.C. statute, and petitioners can raise many of the ...