Lawrence Kestenbaum | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation | Politician |
Known for | The Political Graveyard |
Title | Washtenaw County Clerk/Register of Deeds |
Term | 2004 - Present |
Political party | Democratic |
Website | Kestenbaum's personal website |
Lawrence Kestenbaum (born September 13, 1955) is an attorney, politician, and the creator and webmaster of The Political Graveyard website. [1] [2]
Although he was born in Chicago, Illinois, Kestenbaum was raised in East Lansing, Michigan, where his father, Justin L. Kestenbaum, was a professor of history at Michigan State University. [3]
In 1973, he graduated from East Lansing High School. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Michigan State University, followed by a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University in 1982. [3] He later studied historic preservation at Cornell University. [3]
Kestenbaum was an analyst and computer lab director for Michigan State University, later becoming an academic specialist there. [3] It was during this time that he created The Political Graveyard in 1996. [2] He was later on staff at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (ISR) Survey Research Center, and has taught historic preservation law at Eastern Michigan University. [3]
Kestenbaum is a Democrat. He served as a county commissioner in Ingham County, Michigan (1983–88) and Washtenaw County, Michigan (2000–02). [3] [4] In 2004, he was elected as the Washtenaw County Clerk/Register of Deeds, [2] [3] [4] [5] the first Democrat in that position in 72 years. He was unopposed for reelection in 2008, [3] [4] reelected in 2012, unopposed in 2016, and reelected in 2020.
Kestenbaum currently serves as co-chair of the Legislative Committee for the Michigan Association of County Clerks. [6]
On March 22, 2014, following a U.S. District Court ruling that Michigan's ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional, [7] Kestenbaum was one of four Michigan county clerks to open for special hours while the ruling was in effect; [8] his office issued marriage licenses to 74 gay and lesbian couples. [9] His office also provided fresh same-day same-sex marriage licenses within minutes of the US Supreme Court Obergefell ruling. [10]
Kestenbaum was married to Janice Gutfreund, and they have one child. [3] He and his former wife were active members in Reform Judaism Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He continues to be an active member of science fiction fandom, appearing on panels at conventions such as ConFusion.
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-largest city in Michigan. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County. Ann Arbor is also included in the Greater Detroit Combined Statistical Area and the Great Lakes megalopolis, the most populated and largest megalopolis in North America.
Washtenaw County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the population was 372,258. The county seat is Ann Arbor. The county was authorized by legislation in 1822 and organized as a county in 1826. Washtenaw County comprises the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is home to the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Washtenaw Community College, and Concordia University Ann Arbor.
The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations of the deceased. It is also a pun; where bodies are buried can refer to the politicians accused of crimes or touched by scandal.
Michigan's 7th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Southern Michigan and portions of Central Michigan. From 2004 to 2013 it consisted of all of Branch, Eaton, Hillsdale, Jackson, and Lenawee counties, and included most of Calhoun and a large portion of western and northern Washtenaw counties. The current district, which was created in 2022, is centered around Lansing, Michigan's state capital, and includes all of Clinton, Shiawassee, Ingham, and Livingston counties, as well as portions of Eaton and Oakland counties.
Bradley Francis Granger was an American politician and a United States Representative from the U.S. state of Michigan.
Alma Wheeler Smith is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. She was most recently a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing the 54th District, which includes the city of Ypsilanti, Augusta Township, Salem Township, Superior Township, and Ypsilanti Township in Washtenaw County, from 2005 to 2010. A Democrat, she sat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, served two terms in the Michigan Senate from 1995 to 2002, and sought her party's nomination for Governor of Michigan in 2010.
Michigan's 6th congressional district is a United States congressional district in southwest Michigan. In 2022, the district was redrawn to be centered around Ann Arbor and most of Washtenaw County, as well as western Wayne County, and a sliver of southwestern Oakland County. Previously, district consisted of all of Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and Van Buren, counties, and includes most of Allegan county.
Same-sex marriage in New Mexico became legally recognized statewide 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.
Barbara Anne Byrum is a Democratic politician from the State of Michigan. Byrum currently serves as the Ingham County Clerk. Prior to her election to the position of Clerk, Byrum represented the 67th District in the Michigan House of Representatives. She succeeded her mother, House Minority Leader Dianne Byrum. She owns Byrum Hardware in Charlotte, Michigan and lives in Onondaga with her husband Brad Delaney and their two children.
Same-sex marriage in Utah has been legal since October 6, 2014. On December 20, 2013, the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as a result of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah's ruling in the case of Kitchen v. Herbert, which found that barring same-sex couples from marriage violates the U.S. Constitution. The issuance of those licenses was halted during the period of January 6, 2014 until October 6, 2014, following the resolution of a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage. On that day, following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal in a case that found Utah's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriage.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the U.S. state of Michigan may face some legal challenges not faced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Michigan, as is same-sex marriage. Discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal since July 2022, was re-affirmed by the Michigan Supreme Court - under and by a 1976 statewide law, that explicitly bans discrimination "on the basis of sex". The Michigan Civil Rights Commission have also ensured that members of the LGBT community are not discriminated against and are protected in the eyes of the law since 2018.
Same-sex marriage in Michigan has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. The U.S. state of Michigan had previously banned the recognition of same-sex unions in any form after a popular vote added an amendment to the Constitution of Michigan in 2004. A statute enacted in 1996 also banned both the licensing of same-sex marriages and the recognition of same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions.
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Same-sex marriage in Texas has been legal 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 and in its State Constitution. 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.
In the United States, the history of same-sex marriage dates from the early 1970s, 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.
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