Judge Walker Will Announce Thursday Whether Gay Marriage Stay Will Be Lifted, Service Members Legal Defense Network Files Suit Asking For Injunction Preventing The Discharge Of Lt. Col. Fehrenbach Under DADT, Failed Gubernatorial Republican Candidate Bob Vander Plaats Hatches Gay Marriage Retaliation, L.A. Zombie Likely To Get Guerrilla Australian Screening, Steven Slater Says He Has Always Thought About Disembarking Plane Via Emergency Slide

United States District Judge Vaughn Walker announced that he will rule Thursday on whether gay marriage can continue in California while his historic ruling of last week striking down the state’s constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage makes its way to an appeals court. He will either remove the stay, which would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry or he will leave it place which would maintain the ban under the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hears the case.

Service Members Legal Defense Network filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Boise, Iowa, requesting that a temporary restraining order be issued stopped the Air Force from proceeding with discharging Lieutenant Colonial Victor Fehrenbach under the policy that prevents openly gay men and women from servicing in the military. Fehrenbach is a 19 year veteran, decorated for combat valour in Iraq, who revealed that he is gay in 2008 while defending against allegations that he had raped a male. The Boise Police Department investigated the charge, but Fehrenbach, who insisted that the sex was consensual, was cleared of all allegations, including by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, who found them without merit. Since then, Fehrenbach has not been allowed to deploy as an aviator, instead he has been confined to desk duty, and Service Members Legal believes that is an indication the military is prepared to discharge him from being openly gay. “I have been waiting more than two years for the Air Force to do the right thing by letting me continue to proudly serve my country,” Fehrenbach wrote in a statement released today. “To say that I’m disappointed with where things stand would be a monumental understatement. I’m ready, willing, and able to deploy tomorrow, but I’m barred from deployment, because of this unjust, discriminatory law.” If he is discharged, because he is one year shy of a twenty year mark, he would lose not only his position, but pension.

Failed Iowa Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats announced the formation of anti-gay marriage group – Iowa for Freedom – a political action committee that intends to remove three state Supreme Court justices who voted to legalize same sex marriage in 2009. Vander Plaats wants Iowans to vote against Justices Marsha Ternus, David Baker, and Michael Streit, all on the November ballot. “On April 3, 2009, they clearly legislated from the bench by saying Iowa will be a same-sex marriage state,” Vander Plaats said. “It is not their place to legislate from the bench. It is the Legislature’s place to make law, not the Supreme Court’s place to make law.”

In Australia, Richard Wolstencroft, director of the of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival announced a plan to stage a “public disobedience freedom of speech event” August 29th with a screening of Canadian director Bruce LaBruce’s L.A. Zombie. L.A. Zombie was to show at the Melbourne International Film Festival last month, but on July 20th, it was refused classification by the country’s Classification Board, consequently it cannot legally be shown in Australia. Wolstencroft intends to keep secret the location of the screening as close to the date as possible, saying that “I’ve got Bruce LaBruce’s support. If the police turn up and physically stop me, what can I do? But they really hate coming to this sort of thing, they’re embarrassed,” adding that if the film is seized “we’ll play something just as interesting. But it might worse.”

Steven Slater, spotted Wednesday with his boyfriend, says that he intends to hire a new attorney shortly, and that he has long thought of escaping a plane via the emergency slide. “It was great,” said Slater. “I’ve always wanted to do it.” While he declined to discuss of the specifics of Monday’s event aboard JetBlue Flight 1052, he did say he was surprised by the outpouring of support. “I knew there was brouhaha about this, but while I was on the inside I didn’t realize how much attention it got,” said Steven. “I think something about this resonated with people. The outpouring of support is very appreciated. I’m overwhelmed, very thankful.”