OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Courts

Church Tries Minister For Performing Same-Sex Marriage

August 27th, 2010

A judge sits below Christian iconography, below the phrase 'Judge not lest ye be judged.'

A 67-year-old retired minister in San Francisco is facing a courtroom trial for having performed marriage ceremonies for 16 gay couples during the brief period that same-sex marriage was legal in California.

Rev. Jave Spahr has been accused by the Presbyterian church of “publicly, intentionally, and repeatedly violating church doctrine” in a regional church court.

Yes, church court. Not a real court, of course; Rev. Spahr didn’t do anything illegal.

Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know that church courts existed. I didn’t either until now. Actually, I’d find it kind of charming, if the charges weren’t so stupid. I mean, they’ve set up an entire pretend trial, complete with testimony, witnesses (including eleven of the couples married by Rev. Spahr), a judge—the whole shebang. Isn’t that precious?

This isn’t even the only time Rev. Spahr had been to church court; in 2007 she was tried for the same thing, but was later cleared by a church appeals court (adorable!) because the ceremonies “were not real marriages.”

Anyway, good luck to Rev. Spahr, who clearly has enough common sense to know that everyone—including same-sex couples—deserves love and respect. I can’t wait to read about the trial’s pretend sentence!

German Court Decides Canadian Marriages Aren’t Real

June 16th, 2010

A leprechaun riding a unicorn declares that same-sex marriages aren't real.

A German court has declared that Canadian same-sex marriages are not actually real marriages and can therefore only be considered civil partnerships.

Andreas Boettcher and his partner of 17 years married in Canada just before participating in the Montréal OutGames in 2006, but both had their marital status changed to “single” on government documents by German authorities.

While getting the marriage recognized as a civil partnership is a step in the right direction, Andreas was hoping that it would get its full recognition. “I could fight for it,” Andreas told the press, “but it would take a lot of time and money. At least I have reached the minimum.”

Well, it is better than nothing, I suppose. And at least this opens up a cheap and effective means of divorce for anyone in an unhappy relationship. Simply move to Germany and your marriage is automatically annulled; no lawyers or custody battles required!

Russian Court Says No To Same-Sex Marriage

October 7th, 2009

Nuff said.

A Russian court has blocked what would have been the country’s first same-sex marriage. Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko were told that they couldn’t get married like other couples because of their sex. Shipitko has now told the media that they will fight the decision:

We are a family already. We live together and share household chores. We also would like to have children; that is why we want legal recognition of our union.

Irina and Irina are now planning to come to Canada and wed. They’re hoping that a marriage license obtained elsewhere will carry the same legal rights back home.

Good on you, gals! And good luck!

New Ontario (Pre-)Judge

September 22nd, 2006

New Judge

So what does a right-wing government do when 8 provincial courts independently rule that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional? Why, it appoints new judges, of course! And that’s exactly what our prime minister did this week. And, surprisingly, it’s not the appointment of a former president of the Conservative party into the Quebec high court that’s drawing the most criticism—it’s the new Ontario Judge.

Judge Joe David Brown, who will now officially sit in the Ontario Superior Court, is well known for representing the radical right-wing lobby groups Focus on the Family Canada and REAL Women of Canada in a court challenge to declare same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The case was a spectacular failure. (After all, declaring equality unconstitutional is kind of like declaring Stephen Harper a charismatic joy.) But selecting someone who represented such an eyebrow-raising, destined-to-lose case doesn’t exactly reflect an unbiased nature.

When contacted by the press, Judge Brown refused to talk:

In my past incarnation, I would speak to you. In my present incarnation, you would have to speak to Chief Justice Heather Smith.

Hey, does that mean he’s been recently reincarnated? If so, that’s pretty encouraging! But maybe we should still keep our eyes on this one.