Three Justices Randomly Chosen To Hear Proposition 8 Appeal Favour Upholding Ruling Finding California Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional, Pew Poll Again Reveals Majority Of Americans Favor Repeal Of Military Policy Prohibting Openly Gay Service Personal, American Civil Liberties Union Sues City Of Miami Beach And Two Police Officers For Falsely Arresting Gay Man, Seattle City Lights Workers Sue City Alleging Anti-Gay Discrimination, Dallas Couple Washington D. C. Marriage Via Skype Ruled Invalid

The Associated Press reports that a liberal jurist is among three justices randomly chosen by the Ninth United States Circuit of Appeals to determine if a lower court ruling in August by Justice Vaughn Walker that struck down California’s gay marriage ban as unconstitutional. Judges Michael Hawkins, Stephen Reinhardt, and N. Randy Smith were randomly selected to the case over the constitutional validity of Proposition 8, legal experts predicting that the panel’s “makeup makes it less likely the court ruling would be reversed. Proposition 8's supporters agree, saying that they "fully expect" that the case would have to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

A new national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released Monday reveals that most Americans, 52-percent, favour repealing the military policy prohibiting openly gay service members, fewer than half those, 27-percent, oppose reversing the measure. According to the Pew Center “These opinions have changed little in recent years. Since 2005 – including three surveys this year – roughly 60% have consistently favoured permitting homosexuals to serve openly in the military. There is greater support for permitting gays to serve openly today than there was in 1994, after President Clinton put in place the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. In July of that year, 52% said they favoured allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military while 45% said they opposed allowing this.”

The American Civil Liberties Union announced that they are suing the city of Miami Beach and two police officers accused of wrongly arresting a gay man, the Miami Herald reporting that the ACLU Florida chapter filed the complaint in federal court Monday. Harold Strickland was arrested by officers Frankly Forte and Elliot Hazzi in March, 2009 after Strickland witnessed them beating a man in Flamingo Park, Strickland having called 911. The two officers yelled anti-gay sluts at Strickland and falsely claimed he was trying to break into parked cars. Prosecutors dropped all charges of loitering and prowling in October, 2009. According to the Herald “The ACLU, which says the city's police department has a history of arresting gay men and retaliating against those who report police misconduct, also said in a press release that the city has failed to punish the accused officers. Police started an internal investigation, notified the state attorney's office and relieved Forte and Hazzi of duty with pay after the department learned of the allegations from the ACLU last February, according to the city.”

Two Seattle City Lights employees are suing the city, alleging that they have passed over for promotion in relation for filing an alleged sexual orientation discrimination complaint in 2007. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that “In a lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court last week, Wanda Davis and Edward Richards said straight, less-qualified people have been promoted over them. They said the actions were a reprisal for suing in 2007 for alleged sexual-orientation discrimination. That case ended last year, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's dismissal."

The Dallas Voice reports that the Skype wedding of Dante Walkup and Mark Reed-Walkup was ruled invalid by a Washington, D.D. court, Mark Reed-Walkup “said he and his partner of 10 years, Dante Walkup, were “extremely disappointed” to receive a letter Friday from the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The letter … states that the couple’s marriage couldn’t be certified or registered because all parties weren’t physically present for the ceremony.”He added that “I can only speculate that there was somebody out there motivated by homophobia or politics or both that wanted to see this marriage annulled and prevent other couples from pursuing it,” and that the couple in considering legal action, although he says that “if it’s not a strong case, we’re not going to waste time and resources. We’ll just take a quick trip to D.C., have her [the officiant] marry us in the airport, and go back to Dallas. We will get eventually married one way or the other through Washington, D.C.”