Same Sex Marriage Divorce?

This week I had a question about whether you can divorce in Florida if you were married to your same-sex partner in another state and happened upon a story along the same subject involving Martina Navratilova. Ms. Navratilova is coming under a great deal of scrutiny from the gay community for hiding behind Florida's laws regarding same sex marriage in order to protect her assets. Florida does not recognize civil unions or gay marriages from other states, therefore, if you were married in a state that recognizes gay marriage or civil unions, you are not going to be able to file for a divorce in Florida. The Florida courts cannot dissolve something that the State does not recognize. What are you to do if you were married to your gay partner in another state? I have researched this issue, and unfortunately have not really found anything that could shed light on this topic, but for now, it appears that Florida would not recognize your marriage, therefore, you could not seek a divorce. You could file partition actions to split up joint property, but that may be your only legal remedy. If anyone has any comments or suggestions on this topic, please post your comments here for me to share with the rest of my readers.

http://www.queerty.com/is-martina-navratilova-actually-bad-for-gay-rights-20090630/

Same Sex Marriage Black List

While driving home from the office today, I was listening to the CBS evening news and heard a piece about how the ban on gay marriage in California that recently passed is affecting local businesses. It seems that if you contributed to the campaign to ban gay marriage, this fact is part of the public record, so proponents of gay marriage have created a black list encouraging people to black list those businesses that contributed to the campaign to ban gay marriage. Is this right? Should your political and social views be part of the public record and should people be able to publish those views and encourage people to hurt these people's businesses? I would love to hear people's thoughts on this subject. Please post your opinion here.

Constitutional Amendment to Ban Gay Marriage

I like many other Americans, received my sample ballot in the mail a few days ago in preparation for this year's election. While I am interested in the Presidential election, there are many other things on the ballot that will affect Floridians. There are, of course, the election of various government officials, judges and legislators, but there are also amendments to the Florida Constitution and County Charters. This year, we are voting whether or not to ban gay marriage. More specifically, ...."protect marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized". As a Northerner by birth, I don't remember ever voting for Constitutional Amendments and I'm always shocked how often an amendment to the Constitution of Florida shows up on a ballot. It'll be interesting to see whether this amendment to "protect" marriage will pass. If it doesn't pass, I'm sure it won't be long until we have a vote on whether or not gay marriage should be recognized in Florida. If there ever comes a time when gay marriage is recognized in Florida, this will affect divorce laws here in Florida and may open up a brand new area of expertise which does not currently exist.

Gay Marriage In California

The California Supreme Court recently struck down a ban on gay marriage. In an opinion that analysts say could have nationwide implications for the issue, the seven-member panel voted 4-3 in favor of plaintiffs who argued that restricting marriage to men and women was discriminatory. This leaves the door open for gay couples to marry in California, one of the most populous states here in America. It'll be interesting to see whether the rest of America follows suit and whether this hot button issue comes back to the forefront in the race to the White House in the fall.

To read the story upon which this blog is based, see:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJAdjmJtqDzHG1370Shyd2_mMw4w

Gay Divorce

One of the problems with the fact that gay couples can get married in some states, but can't get married in others is that they can only dissolve their marriages or unions in a state that recognizes that they have a union to begin with. In order to dissolve a marriage, you usually have to satisfy a state's residency requirement, which means in some situations, its impossible to formerly dissolve a civil union or gay marriage unless you live in a state that recognizes the union. The following article addresses this issue:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080415/ap_on_re_us/gay_divorce

Gay Marriage and Value Voters

I have recently written that Floridians will be voting in November about whether or not to ban gay marriage in our state. This is a controversial subject and most conservative people are for the ban on gay marriage. The following article discusses whether or not true value voters should be supportive of any marriage.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-flbmayocol0217sbfeb17,0,5164987.column

Gay Marriage Ban In Florida

It looks like Florida voters are going to be able to vote on a State Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage in November. Many other states have attempted to pass this type of amendment as well, and with a heated presidential election to be on the ballot this fall, people may be coming out in droves to vote on this contested issue.

You can read about this at the following link:

http://www.conservativepulse.com/home/2008/02/03/florida-to-vote-on-gay-marriage-in-november/

Divorce and Gay Marriage

Very few states recognize gay marriage, so when a gay couple wishes to get married, they need to travel to a state that recognizes their unions in order to join together "legally". They then return to their home states in order to live their lives. What happens when those parties want to dissolve their union when the state in which they live in doesn't recognize their marriage? In Rhode Island, it was determined that a couple could not be granted a divorce, because their state did not recognize their marriage. This creates an interesting and complex problem for gay couples who want to have their property and debts distributed and who may want to seek alimony or child support. Until all states recognize gay marriage, this issue will continue to show up in courts and newspapers.

To read the article upon which this blog is based, see: http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2007/12/08/ri_court_wont_let_gay_couple_divorce/