NewsWrap for the week ending January 17, 2015

SUMMARY

SCOTUS Engaged - The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a challenge to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld bans on civil marriage for same-gender couples in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, but turns down the direct appeal of a district court ruling that upheld Louisiana's ban …

Marital Judgements - a federal judge orders Michigan to recognize the marriages of some 300 same-gender couples who tied the knot during a brief period of time when they could and a Kentucky judge grants a first-ever divorce to a lesbian couple who married in Massachusetts, even though Kentucky bans civil marriage equality, while the 9th U.S. Circuit rejects appeals for a rehearing of its 3-judge panel's decision striking down the bans in Nevada and Idaho, and a federal judge overturns South Dakota's ban …

Pushing the Borders - a gay couple who legally wed in England sues for recognition of the marriage in their native Northern Ireland, while a gay Mexicali couple's months-long march down the aisle concludes …

Parenting in Sin - Austria's highest court opens adoption to same-gender couples, even though they can't legally marry in the country …

Not Debauched Enough - 26 Egyptian men caught up in a much-ballyhooed raid on a Cairo bathhouse are unexpectedly acquitted of "debauchery" …

Hint Dropper - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon criticizes India's Section 377, the law that forbids private consensual adult gay sex, during his visit to New Delhi, but the ruling party might finally support repeal …

An Ideas Whose Time Has Passed - an official in the Indian state of Goa draws jeers for proposing centers to make LGBT people "normal," and then claims to have been "misquoted" …

Wrong Way - Russian officials "clarify" an edict issued last week saying that all transgender people would be denied driver's licenses ….

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