NO Gay rights Law Challenged in Court

[AnnInLa]

New Orleans Gay Rights Law Challenged In Court
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: January 28, 2005 2:03 pm. ET



snip





(New Orleans, Louisiana) The Louisiana Appeals Court will hear a suit challenging City of New Orleans ordinances that created a domestic partner registry and extended benefits to same-sex couples.

In 1997, the City of New Orleans extended health insurance benefits to same-sex partners of city employees. In 1999 the City Council, by a majority vote, created a domestic partner registry that allows couples to make a public commitment to care for and support each other.

The domestic partner benefits policy and the city's domestic partner registry almost immediately came under fire from conservatives. The suit was filed on their behalf by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Arizona-firm that is involved in a number of similar cases nationwide.

The ADF claimed that the city's benefits program violates the rights of people opposed to homosexuality. The case was dismissed by a lower court and the group went to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

At the request of the New Orleans city attorney, Lambda Legal joined the lawsuit representing city employee Peter Sabi and his partner, Philip Centanni. Sabi has worked in the city's Vieux Carre Commission as a senior building inspector for nine years. Centanni is a self-employed writer.

[Dylan Garcia]

1. John Rawls to the Rescue

I imagine that my friend, John Rawls, a very capable attorney, will suit up and show up to defend against this ugliness. The fascists will lose.

[Hippo_Tron]

2. "Violates the rights of those opposed to homosexuality"

How?