Articles - Legal & Financial

A U.S. judge in Boston has ruled that the federal ban on marriage equality [Defense of Marriage Act] is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage. The law was enacted by Congress in 1996 - when it appeared Hawaii would legalize marriage equality and opponents worried that other states would be forced to recognize such marriages.

Will Phillips will serve as Grand Marshal for the Northwest Arkansas Gay Pride parade in Fayetteville this weekend. Phillips made headlines last year for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance at his school until all Americans had full equality. Last October he asked his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the Pledge, he remained sitting down. He did it again the next day, and the next day.

Edie and Tamar Love [pictured] have been raising kids together for several years. They recently registered for a recreational family pass at the University of Memphis but were turned away because there was no legal document to prove their union.

Community members learned that the family was denied a family pass and several people contacted U of M to complain. As a result, the university is changing it's policy that requires marriage certificates for family membership plans.

Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao - divorced mothers in their 30's - were united in marriage in Portugal's first same-sex ceremony since the predominantly Catholic country introduced a law allowing marriage equality last month. The couple - who have been together since 2003 - married in a 15-minute ceremony in Lisbon. The union came less than a month after Portugal's conservative president ratified a marriage equality law passed by Parliament in January.