German Highest Court Rules Gay Inheritance Tax Unconstitutional, New Jersey Governor Christie Dismisses Suggestions He Influenced Supreme Court Decision Not Hear Gay Marriage Case, Texas Pastor Arrested After Pretending To Be Teen Boy Online And Blackmailing Men For Sex, Response To Defense Department Survey On Repeal Of DADT Unsurprisingly Low, Rachel Maddow Awarded Walter Cronkite Faith And Freedom Distinction

German’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that there exist no legal ground for taxing gay individuals who have lost their partner any differently from straight married couples, and the court gay the German government until 2011 to compensate those who subject to the previous regulations that forced same sex couples in civil partnerships to pay a higher inheritance tax than opposite sex married couples. Of note, the court ruled that the fact heterosexual couples marriages could possibly function for procreation does not justify higher taxation for homosexuals. Civil unions have been legal in Germany since 2001, and according to original laws, surviving partners were required to pay higher inheritance duties and were also afforded a lower tax exemption that their opposite sex counterparts.

Monday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie responded to allegation that he exerted undue influence on a July 26th state Supreme Court in which the court declined to hear a case in which six same sex couple requested the right to marry. The ruling, which ended in 3-3 vote, suggested that the case would need to be heard first by the lower Superior Court. All three justices who held against hearing the case are up for re-nomination, while the three dissenting votes were from justices who are mandatorily retiring. The seventh vote belonged to Justice John Wallace, but Governor Christie chose not to reappoint him, and Wallace left the bench in May. State Senator Ray Lesniak, a sponsor of the state’s failed same sex marriage bill, said that it was difficult to determine if the governor’s actions on Wallace influenced the three untenured justices, and that is “tragedy of what Gov. Christie did in injecting politics into the Supreme Court, because we won’t know. There’s speculation about that, and the integrity of the Judiciary has been put in question by what Christie did.” Christie, vehemently anti-gay marriage, said Monday “I would assume the three justices who voted not to hear the case based their decisions on the interpretations of the law and the facts.”

51 year old Pastor Randy Scott resigned from the Bethel Temple Assembly of God Church in Houston, Texas following his arrest Saturday. Scott is charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit an assault following an alleged incident in November when Scott posed as a 17 year old boy on Craigslist and met a man he exchanged e-mails with over a period of two days. Court documents read that “When this person (Scott) showed up, in was an older man. The man told him that he was the stepfather of the person the victim has been e-mailing. The subject said that he is very protective of his stepson and has set up his stepson’s e-mail to forward him all of the e-mails they had been exchanging. The victim said that the man told him that he is going to call the police unless the victim pleasured him sexually.” Scott told police upon his arrest that he had sexual conduct under similar circumstances with ten men.

Sunday was the deadline for the 400,000 active and reserve American military personal to complete the Defense Department’s survey on the “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and according to authorities at the Pentagon, the final number of those who responded was 109,883 or 27.5-percent. The survey, meant to assist military leaders “assess the impacts, if any, repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” might have on military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention’ was criticized by gay advocacy groups who found fault with the methodology employed and with the execution of the survey, and who called on supporters – gay and straight – not to participate.

The Interfaith Alliance announced that Rachel Maddow is to be awarded the 2010 Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom distinction in honour of her work covering politics and religion. The award, which will be presented at a gala in October, “recognizes individuals who courageously promote democratic values, defend religious freedom and reinvigorate informed civic participation.”