FLORIDA: Pam Bondi Concedes Defeat

Via the Miami Herald:

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Republican who vigorously fought to defend the state's same-sex marriage ban against a barrage of legal challenges, on Monday conceded defeat. "The judge has ruled, and we wish these couples the best,'' said Bondi spokesman Whitney Ray in a statement. For the last several months, Bondi sought extensions of the stay from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, but both turned her down. A day before a gay-marriage ban that has been ruled unconstitutional is lifted in the rest of the state, Miami-Dade County became the first place in Florida to allow same-sex couples to marry on Monday when a judge lifted the stay there. Ray said there has been no decision as to whether Bondi will continue to pursue the appeal before the 11th Circuit.

There may be no "official" decision on dropping the appeal, but legal insiders have been expecting as much for the several days since Bondi's office notified the Eleventh Circuit Court that they would not be issuing a response brief to the plaintiffs' most recent filing. Keep in mind, however, that we've also seen "surrender" fake-outs from the likes of Idaho Gov. Butch Otter.

Bonus sadz from John Stemberger: "There could be an appeal to the 11th Circuit but I'm not sure how successful that would be given the fact that they've kicked it back once. She's done her job, and that's all we could ask of her, and she's done it well."

That Moment In The Miami Courthouse

Florida's FIRST Marriages Have Happened!

NCLR Celebrates Miami-Dade County

"This is a pivotal moment not just for Miami but for the entire country. Florida is a bellwether state, and I can think of no more encouraging sign as the US Supreme Court prepares to decide whether to resolve this issue for the entire country at its next conference on January 9, and as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in the Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana marriage cases the same day. This is an incredibly important week for marriage equality, and we are so thrilled that Miami couples are leading the charge." - Shannon Minter, legal director for NCLR, who represented the Miami couples.

MIAMI: Licenses Have Been Issued

UPDATE: Sad trombone!

BREAKING: Miami-Dade Judge Lifts Stay, Marriages To Commence Immediately

Miami-Dade County will jump the marriage gun by twelve hours as a state judge has just lifted her stay. Marriages there will commence immediately and the rest of the state can join in at midnight.

UPDATE: Details from the Miami Herald.

Miami-Dade County will become the first place in Florida to allow same-sex couples to marry on Monday, 10 hours before a gay-marriage ban that has been ruled unconstitutional is lifted in the rest of the state. In an 11 a.m. hearing, Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel lifted the legal stay she had placed on her sweeping July decision declaring the ban discriminatory. Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin said same-sex marriages would begin at 2 p.m. Elsewhere in Florida, most court clerks will start marrying gay couples Tuesday — some of them at 12:01 a.m. — following a federal judge’s order. Several counties in conservative North Florida and the Tampa Bay area have stopped marrying people altogether, in part to avoid marrying same-sex couples.

UPDATE II: There will be weddings IN the judge's courtroom!

UPDATE III: The license rush is on!

FLORIDA: Judge Might Allow Same-Sex Marriages Today In Miami-Dade County

Via the Miami Herald:

In July, a state judge in Miami-Dade, Sarah Zabel, ruled Florida's marriage amendment violated constitutional rights and ordered Miami-Dade to issue marriage licenses to six same-sex couples who had sued to marry. Like Hinkle, she stayed her own ruling to allow for appeals. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has vigorously defended Florida's gay-marriage ban, appealing Zabel's ruling, a similar one in Monroe County and others. But with no appeal hearings pending, Florida's gay-marriage ban is set to end once the Hinkle stay expires at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

Zabel has scheduled a Monday hearing to decide whether to lift the stay on her July decision. Miami-Dade's elected clerk, Harvey Ruvin, says his office will begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday if the judge lifts her stay. That would make same-sex marriage legal in only in Zabel's circuit, Miami-Dade County, hours before the Hinkle ruling would strike down the gay-marriage ban statewide. If Zabel does not lift her stay, marriage licenses would be available to same-sex couples Tuesday morning in Miami-Dade under Hinkle's statewide order, Ruvin said. Ruvin plans to open his office at 9 a.m., but clerks in Broward and Monroe, each with outsized gay communities, plan to open their doors at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

The hearing is set for 11AM.

FLORIDA: Miami-Dade County Approves Broad Transgender Rights Ordinance

After contentious and ugly public meetings, the Miami-Dade County Commission last night approved a broad transgender rights ordinance by an 8-3 vote. Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed:

Critics came in droves, packing seats at Miami-Dade County Hall and waiting for hours to testify against the ordinance. More than 130 signed up to speak. Pastors, parents, teens, and seniors expressed particular concern that the measure would grant sexual predators a carte blanche to prowl women’s bathrooms. “There are cases of the deviants who will take advantage of this,” said Commissioner Esteban Bovo, who represents suburban Miami. He would only support the ordinance if it carved out an exception so it did not apply to transgender people using public bathrooms. “We have to be mindful of a segment of the population, who is probably a majority, who is very concerned with this issue,” he said. “It is a concern for the safety of their family.” But in the end, a majority of the commission rejected a bathroom amendment and sided with supporters of the ordinance, who characterized the measure as a basic civil right.

A spokesman for Mayor Carlos Gimenez said, "He is 100% supportive. The mayor will not veto - it will become law."

RELATED:  Last week two state lawmakers introduced a bill that would provide sweeping LGBT anti-discrimination protections statewide.

Freep This Miami-Dade County Poll

It looks like the poll just launched. Middle of the page on the left. (Tipped by JMG reader Bill)

FLORIDA: Miami-Dade County Advances Trans Rights Despite Wingnut Outrage

In a 3-1 vote, a committee for the Miami-Dade County Commission yesterday advanced a transgender rights bill over the usual screaming of Christianist activists.

Raw emotion and invocations of biblical damnation over a proposed ban on discrimination against transgender people dominated Wednesday what was perhaps the fiercest debate Miami-Dade County Hall has seen this year. Advocates of a more inclusive society, including transgender men and women who spoke of how difficult it can be to find public acceptance, were outnumbered by conservatives who, in a show of force, assailed the legislation as immoral and a threat to public safety. Two likened South Florida to Sodom and Gomorrah. What proponents called a civil-rights issue was boiled down by opponents to a mundane task that blurred the divide between men and women: going to the bathroom. A law protecting people like him, a transgender man said, offers the “dignity to pee in peace.”

Among the groups pushing for the law were Equality Florida, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League. Leading the campaign against were the Christian Family Coalition, which opposed adding “sexual orientation” to the human-rights ordinance in 1998, and People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, or PULSE, an African-American group led by socially conservative black clergy. Earlier Wednesday morning, Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick threw out a lawsuit that eight individuals, apparently acting on behalf of the opposing groups, filed last week against [commission chairwoman Rebecca] Sosa in an attempt to stop the hearing from taking place. The plaintiffs argued Sosa broke the law by assigning the legislation to a more favorable committee. But commission rules give the chairperson discretion to set agendas.

Last week opponents of the bill accused Sosa of being a communist and declared that transgender rights are officially endorsed by the Communist Party. The full commission will hear the bill next month.

(Tipped by JMG reader Michael)

FLORIDA: Pro-Charlie Crist TV Campaign Launched By LGBT Group SAVE Dade

Via Steve Rothaus the Miami Herald:

SAVE, one of South Florida’s best-known LGBT-rights groups, has produced a campaign video, Why We Vote, in support of candidates including Democrats Charlie Crist and Annette Taddeo. “I’m voting because Rick Scott and Pam Bondi refuse to recognize our marriage,” says SAVE board chairman Christian Ulvert, seen on-camera with his husband Carlos Andrade. Both men are plaintiffs in the ACLU of Florida’s federal lawsuit against Florida’s constitutional gay marriage ban. In an email to supporters of SAVE announcing the organization's final get out the vote push before the November 4 election, Ulvert appealed for help to buy airtime for the ad as well as funds for voter canvasses, phone banks, and get out the vote events. "All told, we're looking to set a new record of turn out among equality voters in make-or-break races for pro-equality candidates," wrote Ulvert. “We have the opportunity elect for the first time a pro-equality Governor and Lt. Governor in Charlie Crist and Annette Taddeo."

FLORIDA: Miami-Dade County Advances Trans Rights Bill In Unanimous Vote

The usual "men in dresses will invade public restrooms" crackpots were apparently caught flat-footed in Miami-Dade County yesterday. Via the Miami Herald:

Gay rights activists prepared for a political skirmish Tuesday at Miami-Dade County Hall. They wore matching T-shirts, arrived early and filled several rows of the commission chambers in support of legislation expanding protections to transgender people. But no one — in the audience or on the dais — showed up in opposition. Commissioners gave unanimous — though preliminary — approval to amending the Miami-Dade’s human-rights ordinance to ban discrimination on the base of “gender identity” and “gender expression.” The law applies to public places and government services, as well as to employment and housing in the county as a whole. “This update that we’re working on would ensure very basic protections for a very vulnerable part of our community that many take for granted,” said Charo Valero, field organizer for SAVE, Miami-Dade’s leading gay-rights organization that has been pushing for the legislative change.

A similar bill was pulled last year in the face of opposition. The current bill gets its next hearing in November.

FLORIDA: AG Pam Bondi Tells State Appeals Court To Hold Off Until SCOTUS Rules On Same-Same Marriage

Filing separate motions in both the Monroe County and Miami-Dade County cases, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked a state appeals court to continue those counties' stays on marriage ban overturn rulings until the US Supreme Court rules on one of the cases already presented to it.

"Neither this Court nor the Florida Supreme Court can decide this federal issue with finality,” Bondi wrote in a filing late Thursday to the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal. “The United States Supreme Court, however, ‘has the final word on the United States Constitution.’” Bondi told the appeals court she expects the U.S. Supreme Court will act soon on the gay marriage issue. She cited filings this week from the states of Utah and Oklahoma asking their gay-marriage cases be heard by the nation’s highest court. “A ruling from the United States Supreme Court would end the constitutional debate, end this appeal, and end all related cases,” Bondi wrote. “The State of Florida will respect the United States Supreme Court’s final word. In the meantime, this Court should preserve taxpayer and judicial resources by staying briefing until the United States Supreme Court rules.”

Bondi's motions came in response to a request made by Monroe and Miami-Dade plaintiffs to have their cases joined for presentation to the Florida Supreme Court. Bondi has agreed to the consolidation of the cases, but now wants the state appeals court to just sit on them indefinitely - without ruling and without kicking them upstairs to the state Supreme Court. Neither of yesterday's filings address the marriage rulings in Broward and Palm Beach counties.