Pam Bondi moves to stop lesbian couple from divorcing

[coredumped]

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) filed a petition on Friday seeking to block a lesbian woman from getting a divorce from her estranged ex-partner, Broward/Palm Beach New Times reported on Thursday.

Bondi's petition to Broward County Circuit Court Judge Dale Cohen argued that 41-year-old Heather Brassner should not receive a divorce in absentia from Megan Lade because they entered a civil union in Vermont in 2002.

Because Brassner and Lade's union was not recognized as a marriage in Florida, Bondi said, Cohen was incorrect when he declared the state's ban on marriage equality unconstitutional in a separate ruling this past August.

"If this Court reaches the constitutional issues, it should uphold the challenged laws because Florida's marriage laws do not violate the United States Constitution," Bondi wrote.

Brassner has been seeking the divorce since Lade "disappeared" following their falling out. Brassner argued in her petition that she was afraid that Lade would use her name to undermine her financially. The Miami Herald reported that officials in Vermont cannot dissolve their union without a signature from Lade, who has not resurfaced.

Bondi argued that Cohen cannot grant Brassner's petition because she cannot show "a bona fide, actual, present practical need" for the state's same-sex marriage ban to be struck down. The attorney general filed her petition two days before a court-imposed deadline.

The LGBT advocacy group Equality Florida criticized Bondi's move in a statement.

"Attorney General Bondi should not hold our state and our families hostage by calling for the stay to remain in place," the group's CEO, Nadine Smith, said in a statement. "Let her follow the lead of the 9th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court and allow marriages to commence. Every day that Floridians are denied access to the protections only marriage can provide, our families suffer."

Cohen was one of five judges, including a federal judge, to recently rule against the same-sex marriage ban. Bondi has appealed the rulings, saying lifting the ban "would impose significant public harm."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/floridas-attorney-general-moves-to-stop-lesbian-couple-from-divorcing/


PLEASE, remember to VOTE next month everyone!

[WarDamJagFan]

An AG stopping someone from divorcing .... now there's something you don't read every day.

[Charles Hunter]

Especially this particular AG - hasn't she been divorced twice?

And you can Early Vote NOW (in most places, Clay Co. - wait until Saturday).

[coredumped]

Especially this particular AG - hasn't she been divorced twice?

Yep, and working on a 3rd:

Bondi was married to Garret Barnes from 1990 to 1992, and to Scott Fitzgerald from 1997 to 2002. She is currently engaged to ophthalmologist Greg Henderson; they held an unofficial (non-binding) ceremony in the Cayman Islands on May 26, 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Bondi#Personal_life

This despicable person is everything that's wrong w/the republican party.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

This despicable person is everything that's wrong w/the republican party politics.

Fixed.

[Dog Walker]

Is she related to the Bob Bondi that was the Hillsborough County Commission in the '70's?  He held other political offices as well, I think.

[finehoe]

Thank goodness Republicans believe in keeping the government out of peoples's personal lives.  Oh, wait.

[coredumped]

Thank goodness Republicans believe in keeping the government out of peoples's personal lives.  Oh, wait.

And democrats are peaceful, anti war, oh wait

[RMHoward]

I'm all for forcibly keeping two miserable gays together who can't stand each other.  Good for Pam Bondi.

[ben says]

I guess people still don't get that coming back to a valid statement with some sort of 'oh snap' line is idiotic, and doesn't make up for the fact that the original statement was a good point....

[coredumped]

Ben, I'm not sure if that comment was to me or not. If it was, lighten up. My point was that we're so screwed. Republicans and Democrats are exactly the same, and we must stop voting for them.
Look at the governor election - the media would have us believe that our only choices are the current governor or the former governor. Republicans and Democrats fear the 3rd party, and it being the only party GROWING in Florida, they should!

[ben says]

Ben, I'm not sure if that comment was to me or not. If it was, lighten up. My point was that we're so screwed. Republicans and Democrats are exactly the same, and we must stop voting for them.
Look at the governor election - the media would have us believe that our only choices are the current governor or the former governor. Republicans and Democrats fear the 3rd party, and it being the only party GROWING in Florida, they should!

This we can 1000000% agree on!!!