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FROM: NEW YORK TIMES Harshly criticizing Gov.  Andrew M. Cuomo  for the tactics he used to win approval of  same-sex marriage , a state judge has ruled that a  lawsuit  challenging the  enactment of New York’s Marriage Equality Act  can proceed. Acting Justice Robert B. Wiggins of  State Supreme Court in Livingston County, in the  Finger Lakes region , wrote that it was possible that the  Republican  majority in the State Senate had violated the state’s open meetings law as it discussed whether to bring the marriage bill to a vote. His ruling offered a flash of hope for the conservative group that filed the lawsuit,  New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms , which is asking the court to overturn the marriage law and nullify the weddings that have been performed under it. The state attorney general,  Eric T. Schneiderman , had sought the dismissal of the lawsuit. Justice Wiggins dismissed some elements of the case but said it could proceed on the open-meetings issue. His ruling, which

Image via Wikipedia Arkansas ’s state Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a voter-approved initiative passed in 2008 that forbade unmarried couples, including homosexuals, from adopting or fostering children. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Arkansas Act 1, was unconstitutional because it violated the rights of couples engaging in sexual activity to adopt. Act 1, which voters passed by a 57 – 43 percent margin in November 2008, stated: “A minor may not be adopted or placed in a foster home if the individual seeking to adopt or to serve as a foster parent is cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of a marriage which is valid under the constitution and laws of this state.” The Act clarified that the prohibition “applies equally to cohabiting opposite-sex and same-sex individuals.” “Act 1 directly and substantially burdens the privacy rights of ’opposite-sex and same-sex individuals’ who engage in private, consensual sexual conduct in the bedroom by foreclosing t