jennifer pizer

Government attorneys have agreed to suspend deportation proceedings in the case of a binational lesbian couple in New York pending their marriage-based immigration case. Monica Alcota and Cristina Ojeda of Queens are the first married LGBT couple to argue in court that a pending deportation should be terminated since the Obama administration’s February announcement that it would no longer defend Section 3 the Defense of Marriage Act, according to their attorney. Alcota, a citizen of Argentina, wed her American wife last year in Connecticut but has continued to face removal proceedings.

Without explanation, the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit has granted a stay in the Proposition 8 case, yet again putting off marriage rights for same-sex couples seeking to wed in California. Though the three-judge panel granted Prop. 8 supporters the stay it had Proposition 8 supporters a stay in the case but grant expedited arguments, scheduled for the week of December 6.

Federal judge Vaughn R. Walker, who last week struck down California's Proposition 8, on Thursday put marriage for same-sex couples on hold for at least another six days, extending a temporary stay until August 18 at 5 p.m. and allowing Prop. 8 supporters time to appeal his ruling to the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit.