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Myra Colby Bradwell was an American publisher and political activist. She attempted in 1869 to become the first woman to be admitted to the Illinois bar to practice law,but was denied admission by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1870 and the United States Supreme Court in 1873,in rulings upholding a separate women's sphere. Bradwell had founded and published Chicago Legal News from 1868,reporting on the law and continued that work. Meanwhile,influenced by her case,in 1872 the Illinois legislature passed a state law prohibiting gender discrimination in admission to any occupation or profession.
This article addresses the history of lesbianism in the United States. Unless otherwise noted,the members of same-sex female couples discussed here are not known to be lesbian,but they are mentioned as part of discussing the practice of lesbianism—that is,same-sex female sexual and romantic behavior.
The Supreme Court of Guam is the highest judicial body of the United States territory of Guam. The Court hears all appeals from the Superior Court of Guam and exercises original jurisdiction only in cases where a certified question is submitted to it by a U.S. federal court,the Governor of Guam,or the Guam Legislature. The Supreme Court of Guam is the ultimate judicial authority on local matters. In the past,appeals of questions involving the U.S. Constitution or federal laws or treaties were heard by a three-judge appellate panel of the U.S. District Court of Guam,from which appeals could be further taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,but this is no longer the case. Since 2006,the court's decisions have only been appealable to the Supreme Court of the United States,in line with the practice regarding the highest courts of the 50 states. The Court sits in the Monessa G. Lujan Memorial Courtroom,which is on the third floor of the Guam Judicial Center in Hagatna,Guam.
Same-sex marriage became legally recognized statewide in New Mexico through a ruling of the New Mexico Supreme Court on December 19,2013,requiring county clerks to issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples regardless of gender. Until then,same-sex couples could only obtain marriage licenses in certain counties of the state. Eight of the 33 counties,covering 58% of the state's population,had begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in August and September 2013. New Mexico's marriage statute was not specific as to gender,and it was the only state lacking a state statute or constitutional provision explicitly addressing same-sex marriage. Lacking a state law or judicial ruling concerning same-sex marriage prior to December 19,2013,policy for the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples was determined at the county level at the discretion of local issuing authorities i.e.,some counties recognized same-sex marriage and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples,while others did not.
The Government of Guam (GovGuam) is a presidential representative democratic system,whereby the president is the head of state and the governor is head of government,and of a multi-party system. Guam is an organized,unincorporated territory of the United States with policy relations between Guam and the US under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Guam since June 9,2015 in accordance with a ruling from the District Court of Guam on June 5 that the territory's prohibition of same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Guam was the first territory of the United States to recognize same-sex marriage. On August 27,2015,the Guam Marriage Equality Act of 2015 passed by the Guam Legislature came into effect,officially incorporating the federal court ruling into statutory law.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Alabama since June 26,2015,in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Not all counties immediately complied with the ruling,copying behavior from the civil rights era when they had refused to perform interracial marriages. A year after the Supreme Court ruling,twelve counties would either issue licenses to no one or only to opposite-sex couples. By 2017,this number had dropped to only eight counties,with all eight refusing to issue licenses to anyone. In May 2019,the Alabama Legislature passed a bill replacing the option that counties issue marriage licenses and perform marriage ceremonies with the requirement of counties to record marriage certificates. Subsequently,all counties complied and announced on August 29,2019 that they would record marriage certificates for interracial and same-sex couples. Previously,Alabama had banned the licensing of same-sex marriages and the recognition of such marriages from other jurisdictions by executive order in 1996,by statute in 1998,and by constitutional amendment in June 2006.
Mary L. Bonauto is an American lawyer and civil rights advocate who has worked to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,and has been referred to by US Representative Barney Frank as "our Thurgood Marshall." She began working with the Massachusetts-based Gay &Lesbian Advocates &Defenders,now named GLBTQ Legal Advocates &Defenders (GLAD) organization in 1990. A resident of Portland,Maine,Bonauto was one of the leaders who both worked with the Maine legislature to pass a same-sex marriage law and to defend it at the ballot in a narrow loss during the 2009 election campaign. These efforts were successful when,in the 2012 election,Maine voters approved the measure,making it the first state to allow same-sex marriage licenses via ballot vote. Bonauto is best known for being lead counsel in the case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health which made Massachusetts the first state in which same-sex couples could marry in 2004. She is also responsible for leading the first strategic challenges to section three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
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Same-sex marriage has been legal in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015. Previously,the U.S. state of Texas had banned same-sex marriage both by statute since 1973 and in its State Constitution since 2005. On February 26,2014,Judge Orlando Luis Garcia of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas found that Texas's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. On April 22,2014,a state court came to the same conclusion. Both cases were appealed. The district court's decision was appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals,but before that court could issue a ruling,the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all same-sex marriage bans in the United States in Obergefell on June 26,2015. Within a few months of the court ruling,all counties had started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples,except for Irion County,which announced in 2020 that it would begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples,making it the last county in the United States to comply with the ruling.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Kentucky since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015. The decision,which struck down Kentucky's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriages,was handed down on June 26,2015,and Governor Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway announced almost immediately that the court's order would be implemented.
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In the United States,the history of same-sex marriage dates from the early 1940s,when the first lawsuits seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention though they proved unsuccessful. However marriage wasn't a request for the LGBTQ movement until the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington (1987). The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Baehr v. Miike that suggested the possibility that the state's prohibition might be unconstitutional. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples,notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Gene C. Schaerr is an American attorney.
Kimberly Jean Davis is an American former county clerk for Rowan County,Kentucky,who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
A general election was held in Guam on Tuesday,November 6,2018. Voters in Guam chose their governor,their non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives,attorney general,public auditor,as well as all fifteen members of the territorial legislature. The election coincides with the United States mid-term elections.
Therese M. Terlaje is a Guamanian politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party,Terlaje has served as a member of the Legislature of Guam since 2017,and as Speaker of the Guam Legislature in 2021.
References
- ↑ "Attorney General Camacho takes office". January 8, 2019.
- ↑ "Guam Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson won't seek reelection". May 21, 2018.
- 1 2 "General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson". The Office of the Attorney General of Guam. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
- 1 2 "Judge Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson". Unified Courts of Guam. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
- ↑ "Before the 2012 Judicial Council of Guam Resolution No. JC12-002" (PDF). Island of Guam Courts of Justice. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
- ↑ Lewin, Tamar (March 21, 1990). "Guam's Abortion Law Tested By A.C.L.U. Lawyer's Speech". New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
- ↑ "Guam to Drop Abortion Charges". New York Times. Associated Press. April 3, 1990. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
- ↑ Salas, Jason (November 4, 2014). "Barrett-Anderson dominates AG race". KUAM News. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
- ↑ "Guam to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples". USA Today. April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
