How legal tide turned on same-sex marriage in the US
26 June 2015
Same sex marriage is now legal in the entire US after a Supreme Court ruling striking down state marriage bans.
The ruling means all US states must grant marriage licences to gay and lesbian couples and recognise marriages that have taken place in other states.
So how did we get to this point?
In 1996, the US Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
In 2003, Massachusetts judges ruled the state constitution allowed gay marriage, and marriage licences followed shortly after that. In the following years, a handful of states passed gay marriage bans while others began working towards allowing same-sex unions - either by court order or legislation.
One high-profile ban occurred by referendum in California in 2008 after courts had previously allowed same-sex marriage.
This continued across the US until the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013.
What did justices have to decide in this case?
The justices, who had previously stopped short of resolving the question of same-sex marriage nationally, had to consider whether or not states were constitutionally required to issue marriage licences and if states were required to recognise same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
How many states previously allowed same-sex unions?
Before the ruling, 36 states were issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples, as well as Washington DC, which sets its own marriage laws but is not legally a state.
Prop 8 supporters hold signs
A critical turning point came in October 2014, when the Supreme Court chose not to hear appeals against lower court rulings that had overturned same-sex marriage bans - expanding the legality of gay unions to many more states.
In other states, same-sex marriage has been approved either through legislation or voter referenda.
Michigan couples were briefly able to marry before a court stayed a ruling overturning its ban.
What have been the key Supreme Court rulings?
On 6 October 2014, the court turned away appeals from five states with gay marriage bans on the books that had challenged court rulings overturning those bans.
In challenging the gay marriage bans, proponents relied on a 2013 Supreme Court ruling in the case of United States v Windsor.
In that case, the court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which barred the federal government from recognising same-sex marriages.
Under Doma, for example, individuals in same-sex marriages were ineligible for benefits from federal programmes such as the Social Security pension system and some tax allowances if their partners died.
Another key case, Hollingsworth v Perry of 2013, was filed by two lawyers, Theodore Olson and David Boies, working together on behalf of their California clients, Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier and another couple, Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami.
They argued that the Supreme Court should strike down a state law, called Proposition 8, which stated that marriage is between a man and a woman. The law, approved by California voters in 2008, overrode a state Supreme Court decision that allowed for same-sex marriage.
What is next?
Marriages will continue as before in the 36 states. The remaining states will have to issue licences, although it is unclear how long they have to comply with the court's ruling. However, there were reports of court clerk offering licences only an hour after the Supreme Court decision.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-21943292
Structure of the Lead:
WHO-gay and lesbian couples
WHERE-US
WHEN-not given
WHAT-Same sex marriage is now legal
WHY-not given
HOW-not given
Keywords:
1.Supreme: 最高的，至上的
2.federal: （常大寫）美國聯邦政府的，國家的
3.referendum: 公民投票
4.constitutionally: 憲法上；立憲上
5.proponent: 提議人；擁護者
6.ineligible: 無被選資格的；不適任的
2017年2月27日 星期一
Military Concedes Election to Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar
Military Concedes Election to Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar
By THOMAS FULLERNOV.
NOV, 2015
YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s military establishment on Wednesday acknowledged the victory of the country’s democracy movement led by the Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, raising hopes for a peaceful transfer of power after five decades of military domination.
President Thein Sein sent his congratulations to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party for “gathering the support of the people.” The statement, delivered in a Facebook post, amounted to an admission of defeat by the president, a former general who has led the military-backed government for the past five years.
“The government will respect and follow the people’s choice and decision, and work on transferring power peacefully according to the timetable,” the Facebook message said.
Both sides agreed to hold negotiations after the election commission announces the final results of the vote, expected later this month.
Winning a majority in both houses of Parliament, as the National League for Democracy appears to have done in Sunday’s elections, would give the party control over both the legislative and executive branches of government — a breathtaking sweep of power for the democracy movement.
In a letter released by her party on Wednesday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi asked to meet with Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander in chief of the military.
“It is crucial for the dignity of the nation that the people’s will, which was shown in the election of Nov. 8, be truly implemented in a peaceful and stable manner,” she wrote in the letter, which was dated Tuesday.
She sent similar letters to the president and the speaker of the lower house of Parliament.
The office of General Min Aung Hlaing responded Wednesday night that the military “congratulates the National League for Democracy in getting a majority of seats” in the official results released so far.
The departing speaker of the lower house of Parliament, Thura Shwe Mann, suggested that he was open to the meeting, saying on his Facebook page that he wished to “work together to build a stable, peaceful and developed country.”
Mr. Shwe Mann lost his seat in Parliament in the election.
Despite the democracy movement’s triumph, the police, army and large parts of the bureaucracy will remain under the military’s direct control.
Analysts say the key to a functioning government will be cooperation between Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the military. The extent to which that is possible remains to be seen.
The new Parliament is expected to meet early next year and select a new president in March.
The military-drafted Constitution prohibits Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi from serving as president, but she has rankled the governing party, which is the political arm of the military, by saying she would serve above the president.
“The president will be told exactly what he can do,” she told a television interviewer on Tuesday. “I make all the decisions because I am the leader of the winning party.”
But she also sent signals that she was not out for revenge. She told another interviewer, “We are not going in for vengeance, and we are not going in for a series of Nurembergs.”
She added that she would “uphold the parts of the Constitution that are good.”
The Constitution was written by the generals, who have governed Myanmar in one form or another since 1962, and it was devised for them to retain significant power even in the case of electoral defeat.
By Wednesday evening, the commission had announced official results for 298 of the 491 seats contested in Sunday’s elections. Of those, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won 256, and the governing party won 21.
There are 664 seats in the two houses of Parliament; the military appoints 166 of them.
The commission also announced that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi had been re-elected to her seat, which was expected given the almost divine reverence that she commands across the country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/world/asia/aung-san-suu-kyi-myanmar-elections-military.html?_r=0
Structure of the Lead:
WHO-Aung San Suu Kyi
WHERE-Myanmar
WHEN-Wednesday
WHAT-Myanmar’s military establishment
WHY-a peaceful transfer of power after five decades of military domination.
HOW-not given
Keywords:
1.executive: 執行的；實施的；經營管理的
2.dignity: 尊嚴；莊嚴
3.triumph: 勝利
4.bureaucracy; 官僚政治
5.rankle: 仍然令人怨恨難消
6.vengeance: 報復；報仇
By THOMAS FULLERNOV.
NOV, 2015
YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s military establishment on Wednesday acknowledged the victory of the country’s democracy movement led by the Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, raising hopes for a peaceful transfer of power after five decades of military domination.
President Thein Sein sent his congratulations to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party for “gathering the support of the people.” The statement, delivered in a Facebook post, amounted to an admission of defeat by the president, a former general who has led the military-backed government for the past five years.
“The government will respect and follow the people’s choice and decision, and work on transferring power peacefully according to the timetable,” the Facebook message said.
Both sides agreed to hold negotiations after the election commission announces the final results of the vote, expected later this month.
Winning a majority in both houses of Parliament, as the National League for Democracy appears to have done in Sunday’s elections, would give the party control over both the legislative and executive branches of government — a breathtaking sweep of power for the democracy movement.
In a letter released by her party on Wednesday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi asked to meet with Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander in chief of the military.
“It is crucial for the dignity of the nation that the people’s will, which was shown in the election of Nov. 8, be truly implemented in a peaceful and stable manner,” she wrote in the letter, which was dated Tuesday.
She sent similar letters to the president and the speaker of the lower house of Parliament.
The office of General Min Aung Hlaing responded Wednesday night that the military “congratulates the National League for Democracy in getting a majority of seats” in the official results released so far.
The departing speaker of the lower house of Parliament, Thura Shwe Mann, suggested that he was open to the meeting, saying on his Facebook page that he wished to “work together to build a stable, peaceful and developed country.”
Mr. Shwe Mann lost his seat in Parliament in the election.
Despite the democracy movement’s triumph, the police, army and large parts of the bureaucracy will remain under the military’s direct control.
Analysts say the key to a functioning government will be cooperation between Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the military. The extent to which that is possible remains to be seen.
The new Parliament is expected to meet early next year and select a new president in March.
The military-drafted Constitution prohibits Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi from serving as president, but she has rankled the governing party, which is the political arm of the military, by saying she would serve above the president.
“The president will be told exactly what he can do,” she told a television interviewer on Tuesday. “I make all the decisions because I am the leader of the winning party.”
But she also sent signals that she was not out for revenge. She told another interviewer, “We are not going in for vengeance, and we are not going in for a series of Nurembergs.”
She added that she would “uphold the parts of the Constitution that are good.”
The Constitution was written by the generals, who have governed Myanmar in one form or another since 1962, and it was devised for them to retain significant power even in the case of electoral defeat.
By Wednesday evening, the commission had announced official results for 298 of the 491 seats contested in Sunday’s elections. Of those, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won 256, and the governing party won 21.
There are 664 seats in the two houses of Parliament; the military appoints 166 of them.
The commission also announced that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi had been re-elected to her seat, which was expected given the almost divine reverence that she commands across the country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/world/asia/aung-san-suu-kyi-myanmar-elections-military.html?_r=0
Structure of the Lead:
WHO-Aung San Suu Kyi
WHERE-Myanmar
WHEN-Wednesday
WHAT-Myanmar’s military establishment
WHY-a peaceful transfer of power after five decades of military domination.
HOW-not given
Keywords:
1.executive: 執行的；實施的；經營管理的
2.dignity: 尊嚴；莊嚴
3.triumph: 勝利
4.bureaucracy; 官僚政治
5.rankle: 仍然令人怨恨難消
6.vengeance: 報復；報仇
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