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As of this weekend, marriage equality has suddenly come to Australia -- but there's
a catch. In fact, there are a lot of catches. Courts in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Utah could
all be the first to rule on marriage in a post-DOMA world. And an equality lawsuit in
Louisiana got knocked down, but not out.
For the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I'm Matt Baume, and welcome to Marriage News
Watch for December 9, 2013.
The first week of marriage equality has gone pretty smoothly. A few dozen couples married
on the first day, and there's been a steady stream of weddings since then. The University
of Hawaii estimates that marriage will bring in $217 million over the next three years.
But State Rep Bob McDermott's lawsuit to end the marriages continues to be a concern. He'll
have a hearing in mid-January.
Meanwhile, there are some questions over another lawsuit, Jackson v. Abercrombie. That suit
was filed months ago by equality organizers seeking to force the state to legalize marriage.
Now that it's actually happened, the court has asked the plaintiffs to either end the
suit or prove why it should continue.
It's unclear how the two lawsuits might affect each other, if at all. If McDermott is successful
in stopping marriage equality, Jackson v. Abercrombie could be an effective means to
re-instating it.
You might remember several months ago when a clerk in Pennsylvania started issuing marriage
licenses. The state eventually ordered the clerk, D. Bruce Hanes, to stop after he issued
nearly 200. Now he's appealed to the state Supreme Court in an attempt to resume issuing
those licenses. There's no timeline for a ruling there, but a decision could be coming
quite soon.
Or we might first get a ruling a Utah. A judge there heard arguments in a federal suit against
that state's marriage ban. As usual, lawyers defending the ban claimed that it would promote
heterosexual procreation, but couldn't explain how. The judge expects to rule sometime in
January.
A lawsuit in Louisiana hit a snag last week. A judge there dismissed a challenge to the
marriage ban on a technicality, ruling that the couples couldn't sue the state Attorney
General. They plan to amend the ruling with a new defendant this week.
And finally this week, marriage equality is suddenly legal in Australia -- but just in
one small part, and possibly for just a few days. The Australian Capital Territory passed
a marriage equality bill several weeks ago. It's been challenged in court, but it'll go
into effect this weekend before the court can issue a ruling. So for at least the next
few days, Australian couples will be able to marry, as long as they registered a month
in advance.
Those are the headlines. Subscribe here on YouTube to stay up to date on all these stories.
For the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I'm Matt Baume. Thanks for watching.