Father gets rights to question son's 'lover'

A retired soldier has won the right to question a man, who claims he was his deceased son's life partner, about the nature of their relationship, after a ruling made in the Cape High Court on Tuesday.

James Middleton contends that his son Phillip was not involved in a life partnership with French chef Dominique Ripoll-Dausa, who has launched a legal battle for a share of Phillip Middleton's multimillion-rand estate.

Should Ripoll-Dausa succeed in his constitutional court challenge against legislation that, he says, unfairly discriminates against the rights of gays to inherit their partners' estates, he will stand to inherit a substantial portion of Middleton's estate.

 

Florida won't recognise gay marriages from other states

In a blow to g ay rights in the US, a District court in Florida has upheld a federal law protecting states from having to recognise another state's homosexual ‘marriages’. The court dismissed a lawsuit brought by two women seeking to have their Massachusetts union recognised by Florida. They had argued that the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act was unconstitutional because it discriminated on the basis of s ex and violated their fundamental rights, reports The Washington Times. But Judge James Moody disagreed, saying the law treated men and women equally and that the government met its burden of stating a legitimate interest for allowing marriages to exist only between men and women. And in a separate ruling, the Louisiana Supreme Court has unanimously reinstated the marriage amendment to the state constitution that voters overwhelmingly approved in September. The ruling reversed a state district judge's ruling in October striking down the amendment.
Full report in The Washington Times

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