On June 22, California Congressmembers Adam Schiff and Judy Chu introduced a bill that would eliminate a significant inequity in the U.S. tax code and help make assisted reproduction more…
Swiss voters will decide September 26 whether to legalize same-sex marriage, a change in the law that also would give lesbian couples access to donor sperm and same-sex couples the…
As the U.S. Supreme Court reconvened last week for the first time since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A.…
Yesterday I participated in the second weekly national webinar for surrogacy professionals, convened by the American Bar Association and SEEDS (Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy). The webinars have been a great forum for fertility lawyers, reproductive healthcare providers, surrogacy and donor agencies and non-profit advocacy organizations from all over the U.S. to share information about current conditions and issues of concern to our clients and stakeholders.
To all my friends and colleagues in Taiwan, Happy Pride 2019! I will be there soon to celebrate with you and to participate, along with the organization Taiwan LGBT Family…
“This appeal comes to us unopposed,” reads the first sentence of the Utah State Supreme Court’s August 1 decision striking down a statute that denied same-sex married couples equal rights…
The conflict and division surrounding immigration in the United States have spread beyond border crossings and asylum claims. Based on a narrow interpretation of existing law, U.S. authorities have not…
Even as it approaches the finish line, legislation to finally end New York state’s ban on gestational surrogacy is facing vocal opposition from an unexpected source: the feminist left. We…
Many LGBT intended parents and their families rejoiced in 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Obergefell v. Hodges, legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Finally, LGBT married couples…
Amid so many gravely concerning headlines about immigration recently, at least one immigration story had a happy ending last week: A federal judge overturned the government’s earlier decision to deny…
Ireland legalized same-sex marriage the same year the United States did, via a Supreme Court ruling in 2015. But just as is true of the U.S., Ireland has struggled to…
Tens of thousands of LGBT Israelis and their allies took to the streets Sunday, protesting a new Israeli surrogacy law that denies gay men the right to become parents via…
Congratulations to Washington State, which just became the first state to enact UPA 2017, the updated Uniform Parentage Act for use by U.S. states as uniform legislation for parentage laws,…
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states, many LGBT parents and intended parents felt a weight lift from their shoulders: Now, surely,…
We at IFLG mourn the passing of Edith Windsor, the courageous woman whose demand that her government treat her and her marriage with fairness brought down the U.S. Defense of…
I have the great honor of traveling next week to China and Japan to talk to members of the LGBT communities there about assisted reproductive technology and the legal considerations…
The wheels of progress turn slowly, and in some parts of the world, leaders stand on the brakes, bring it to a screeching halt, then do their best to roll…
As my fellow family lawyers and ART attorneys and I work to wrap our heads around last week’s presidential election results, many of our clients are turning to us for…
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to open hearings April 28 on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans in four states, a handful of contrarian holdouts continues to fuel the…
Proponents of marriage equality have a lot to celebrate as we near the beginning of a new year. Since January 1, 2014, courts in 20 states have overturned bans on…
As of September, 17 state attorneys general had joined a “friend of the court” brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear same-sex marriage cases from the Fourth, Seventh and…
U.S. district court broke down another barrier to same-sex marriage in a crucial ruling for same-sex parents in Ohio who have out-of-state adoption degrees.
The U.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor set the stage for the issue’s repeat appearance in front of the high court.
Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce added recognition for same-sex married couples, vowing to treat same-sex spouses just like opposite-sex spouses.
Earlier this month, in a ruling that rocked the worlds of same-sex couples and attorneys alike, a Brooklyn court denied the non-biological mother of a child born to a married lesbian couple the right to legally adopt her child.
Six couples and Equality Florida Institute filed suit asking a Florida state court to overturn Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage on the grounds that it violates their rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Another domino fell last week as another federal judge struck down a same-sex marriage ban in another conservative state—the second such occurrence in less than 30 days.
Utah same-sex couples and their families continue on a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs following a Dec. 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby overturning Utah’s ban on same-sex marriages.
Many gay and lesbian couples in Utah have put their plans to marry on hold for now, as the U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 6 put a hold on U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby’s Dec. 20 ruling striking down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Defenders of Utah’s gay marriage ban seem likely to force the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in again on same-sex marriage, sooner rather than later.
The people of Utah are divided between celebration and outrage in response to a federal court ruling Friday, Dec. 20, knocking down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage on constitutional grounds.
The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled December 19 that prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying is a violation of the anti-discrimination clause in the state’s Constitution, making New Mexico the 17th U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
The Hawaiian state Senate on Nov. 12 passed SB1 on a 19-4 vote during a special session called by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who signed the bill into law yesterday. The Hawaiian House approved the measure 30-19 on Nov. 8 after adding several amendments aimed at quelling religious objections.
Illinois has become the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Although Governor Pat Quinn has yet to sign the bill into law, he urged state legislators to pass it and has promised to sign.
Scores of gay and lesbian couples lined up at county courthouses throughout the state to apply for marriage licenses or to be married.
The New Jersey Supreme Court today stood up for equality, upholding a lower court ruling legalizing same sex marriage and the Illinois State Senate has passed the “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.”
The U.S. Supreme Court released decisions on DOMA and Prop 8 that will have a profound impact for many of our clients and on the lives of LGBT people
Same-sex marriage legislation passed in two more U.S. states recently
Uruguay became the second Latin American nation, following Argentina, to legalize same-sex marriage
The U.S. Supreme Court’s hearings on two crucial same-sex marriage cases this week has created a media frenzy and raised passions to fever pitch on both sides of the issue.
France became the second nation in one month to take the first steps toward marriage equality. The “Marriage for All” bill spearheaded by President François Hollande’s Socialist party also grants the same right to all married couples to adopt children.
Kansas Supreme Court ruled in Frazier v. Goudschaal that the two children born via sperm donation to a lesbian couple are the children of both women.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it will consider the case of California’s Proposition 8, passed in 2008, which stripped California same-sex couples of the right to marry. A U.S. District Appeals Court earlier had struck down Prop 8 on the basis it was unconstitutional. Some LGBT advocates are disappointed with today’s announcement because, had the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, same-sex marriage would have resumed in California almost immediately. The Supreme Court will consider California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage, ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. appeals court, and the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
As demonstrated by the state legislature’s commendable move to protect all parties in surrogacy arrangements by passing AB 1217, California non-traditional families are lucky. In contrast, in Salt Lake City, Utah, The New Normal, a new TV sitcom about a gay male couple who are becoming dads via surrogacy, is not even being allowed to air.
Demonstrators advocated a wide variety of issues including LGBT rights, legalizing in vitro fertilization and migrant-worker benefits.
The number of gay couples forming families is on a steady rise from previous years. Gay and lesbian couples around the world are finding new hope creating families using ART methods.
Legislation under consideration by the New Jersey state legislature, as a result of a recent state Supreme Court case, would help establish parental rights for infertile men or women who become parents via surrogacy.
New York court upholds and gives full faith and credit to a California judgment of paternity awarded to two men who had twins through gestational surrogacy... despite New York's public policy against surrogacy.
The California Supreme Court held in May 2009 that the estimated 18,000 couples who married in California between that court’s marriage equality decision in May 2008 and Prop 8’s passage on November 4, 2008 remain validly married under California law.
Bill saying that the District would provide a road map for gay rights activists in other jurisdictions, including possibly Maryland.
