By Rebecca Armendariz

Howard University School of Law will host a forum titled "Jumping the Broom: Civil Marriage and the Black Community” on Wednesday, Feb. 13 from 5 - 6:30 p.m. in classroom three of Houston Hall, Howard University School of Law, 2900 Van Ness Street, NW, Washington D.C.

The groups sponsoring this forum are the ACLU chapter at Howard University’s School of Law, the ACLU of Maryland, the Maryland Black Family Alliance, the Howard Law American Constitution Society, OutLaw, and Law Students for Reproductive Justice. A dinner reception will follow.

Guests present will be: Elbridge James, Director of the Maryland Black Family Alliance; David Rocah, Staff Attorney and Litigator of Conaway v. Deane, from the ACLU of Maryland; H. Alexander Robinson, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition; and Mikki Mozelle and Lisa Kebreau, a plaintiff couple from Conaway v. Deane, the Maryland civil marriage equality lawsuit.

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Top lawyer sees gay marriage row as ‘clash of rights’

LABOUR MP Emily Thornberry has launched a withering attack on the Islington registrar refusing to conduct gay weddings, telling her: “Get on with the job.”

Lillian Ladele

Lillian Ladele is taking the Town Hall to an unprecedented employment tribunal claiming that she should not be made to preside over civil partnerships because they clash with her Christian principles.

Employment lawyers said the outcome of the case is impossible to predict because the tribunal will be forced to choose between the right to hold religious beliefs and the right to equality.

Ms Thornberry, commenting on the case for the first time this week, said: “I cannot sit by whilst others attempt to undermine equality in the provision of public service on any basis.”

Chris Benson, from Leigh Day and Co, said the pending tribunal has attracted the attention of the entire legal profession.

He said: “It is so rare. The only similar case I can think of is a judge who took the Department for Constitutional Affairs to an employment tribunal because he said placing children with same sex families went against his beliefs.

“It is difficult to look into a crystal ball and predict what might happen but I suspect her case will simply be based on the change in the law in October, her religious beliefs and the fact that she is an employee.

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By Stefanie Kranjec
Editing by Patricia Reaney

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Gay and lesbian couples are just as committed in their relationships as heterosexuals and the legal status of their union doesn't impact their happiness, according to new research.

In two new studies that compared same-sex and heterosexual couples using different factors and methods to assess their happiness, scientists found few differences.

"Among the committed couples, there were very few differences that we were able to identify either in terms of how satisfied these couples were, how effectively they interacted with one another or how their bodies responded physiologically while they were interacting with one another," Glenn I. Roisman, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, said in an interview

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