The Obama administration will throw its support behind a broad claim for marriage equality, urging the Supreme Court to rule that voters in California were not entitled to ban same-sex marriage there, according to an administration official.The federal government is not a party to the case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, No. 12-144, and was not required to take a position in it. But the lawyers who filed the challenge, Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, along with gay rights groups, lobbied hard for the brief, saying the administration could not stay silent on the issue.The administration is expected to file the brief Thursday.Read HERE.
The New York Times doesn't seem to know what to do with pianist Van Cliburn's live-in friend, Thomas Smith. Van Cliburn died today at 78, and the NYT's obituary says in the second paragraph: "His publicist, Mary Lou Falcone, confirmed the death, saying that Mr. Cliburn had been treated for bone cancer and that he died at his home, which he shared with Thomas L. Smith, who survives him."
Smith is never mentioned again in the entire obit. A Google search finds other obituaries describing Smith as Van Cliburn's long-time "companion" or "friend." Was the pianist gay? In Wikipedia, his personal life section says only: "In 1998, Cliburn was named in a lawsuit by his alleged domestic partner of seventeen years, mortician Thomas Zaremba."The obit does later mention the palimony suit and references his homosexuality -- from discreet to less so. But it NEVER mentions Smith again. I'd have thought after the whole Susan Sontag incident -- and in the midst of the marriage equality revolution -- the New York Times would have gotten this right. Were we expecting too much? I'm pretty sure the Gray Lady generally doesn't list "friends" as survivors.
He is survived by Thomas L. Smith, with whom he shared his home for many years.The part about "sharing his home" still strikes me as odd -- don't all couples tend to "share homes"? -- and Smith is still only mentioned the once. But I do think it's an improvement.
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