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Sullivan & Worcester Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association Urging the Supreme Court to Confirm that DOMA and California Proposition 8 are UnconstitutionalS&W Press Release, February 28, 2013Boston, MA – February 28, 2013 – Sullivan & Worcester has filed in the United States Supreme Court a brief for its client and Amicus Curiae GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality (the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association). GLMA asks the high court to affirm the rulings of the Second Circuit and the Ninth Circuit holding the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California Proposition 8, respectively, unconstitutional in the cases United States v. Windsor et al. (No. 12-307), and Hollingsworth, et al., v. Perry, et al., (No. 12-144). The brief addresses the role of immutability in Equal Protection Clause analysis, and spotlights the scientific and clinical evidence that sexual orientation is an innate human characteristic. Partner Nicholas M. O’Donnell is counsel of record for GLMA. Nick said about the brief “GLMA believes that to reinstate DOMA or Proposition 8 would be to persecute a group of Americans solely on the basis of sexual orientation, something about themselves that is fundamentally determined. For all citizens to enjoy the equal protection of law, none can be the target of the law for something inherent to their very humanity.” The Amicus brief cites decades of studies of sexual orientation establishing that genetic, hereditary, hormonal, and biological influences are major factors in determining sexual orientation, whereas the evidence cited by supporters of DOMA and Proposition 8 is either scientifically unreliable or, in many cases, actually makes GLMA’s point. About GLMA About Sullivan & Worcester LLP Contact:
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