SACRAMENTO, Calif. (BP)–The lesbian couple at the head of a California “gay marriage” lawsuit has split up, just as their case is being appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The separation of Lancy Woo and Cristy Chung won’t impact the case going forward, their attorneys say, although it does serve as a distraction just as legal briefs are being filed with the high court, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The case known as Woo v. Lockyer involves several other homosexual couples seeking to have California become the next state to legalize “gay marriage.” A California appeals court panel issued a 2-1 ruling in early October against “gay marriage” supporters, and they filed their appeal with the state Supreme Court Nov. 13. The state high court has 90 days to decide whether to hear the case. Conservatives hope the seven-member court declines the case and allows the lower court ruling to stand.
Woo and Chung are the third prominent homosexual couple in the last year to split up, the Chronicle said. They had been together 18 years and had a daughter. Late last year a Vermont couple that was the first in the U.S. to receive a same-sex civil union separated. And this summer, the Goodridges, the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit to legalize “gay marriage” in Massachusetts, split up.
“We remain fully committed to the principle that couples should be able to marry without regard to their sexual orientation, and we have been honored to be a part of this historic litigation,” Woo and Chung said in a statement, according to The Chronicle.
The case includes lawsuits by the city of San Francisco as well as Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The suits seek to overturn several California marriage laws, including Proposition 22, which was passed by 61 percent of voters in 2000 and defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
MEXICO CITY LEGALIZES CIVIL UNIONS — Mexico City lawmakers passed a bill Nov. 9 legalizing civil unions, making it only the second Latin American city to do so, the Houston Chronicle reported. Buenos Aires is the other.
The bill, which grants homosexual couples many of the legal benefits of marriage, passed the capital city’s assembly 43-17. Homosexual activists hope the bill is the first step toward a nationwide movement.
“This is a triumph for the gay movement in Mexico like we’ve never seen before,” homosexual activist Alejandro Brito said, according to the Chronicle. “We hope this will reinvigorate the movement and inspire us to fight for our full rights.”
Conservative groups pledge to prevent the movement from spreading.
“To legalize the union between people of the same sex is to legalize an aberrant act. It’s anti-natural,” Guillermo Bustamante, president of the National Parents’ Union, said, according to the newspaper.
The Mexican state of Coahuila also is considering legalizing civil unions.
MISSOURI STATE PROF REASSIGNED — A professor at Missouri State University has been reassigned after he allegedly required students to write and sign a letter to the Missouri legislature supporting homosexual adoption. University student Emily Brooker sued the university, saying the assignment violated her Christian beliefs. She refused to perform the assignment and was charged with violating school policy, the Alliance Defense Fund, which filed the suit on her behalf, said. Brooker is in the school of social work.
According to the suit, Brooker was taken before an ethics committee made up of faculty and asked such questions as, “Do you think gays and lesbians are sinners?”
The university settled the lawsuit out of court and cleared her record. The professor is no longer head of the master’s degree social work program, the Associated Press reported, and he won’t be teaching the rest of the semester.
“Being a Christian shouldn’t make you a second-class citizen on a college campus,” ADF attorney David French said in a news release. “Instead of being a marketplace of ideas, some professors try to silence or even punish students whose beliefs do not conform to their personal worldview. To its credit, the university launched an investigation immediately after Emily’s case was filed and has taken appropriate action against the professor and appropriate action to repair Emily’s reputation and record. I only wish other administrations would respond as quickly to violations of students’ rights.”
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For more information about the national debate over “gay marriage,” visit http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage
