US: Lesbian cousin of Supreme Court Chief Justice will attend equal marriage hearing
The lesbian cousin of the US Supreme Court’s Chief Justice has said she will attend the hearings this week around equal marriage.
Jean Podrasky will attend the landmark hearings with her partner of four years, Grace Fasano. Podrasky, a cousin of Chief Justice John Roberts, has said she would like to marry Fasano.
The pair will sit in a special section of the court which is reserved for relatives and guests of the Chief Justice.
Podrasky said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that she did not know how Justice Roberts felt on the matter, but that she expected the court to overturn Proposition 8, a 2008 constitutional ban on equal marriage in the state of California.
“He is a smart man,” she said “He is a good man. I believe he sees where the tide is going. I do trust him. I absolutely trust that he will go in a good direction.”
In a column for the National Center for Lesbian Rights to be published Monday, she wrote: “As a Californian, I want nothing more than to marry my wonderful girlfriend,” she said “And as a tax-paying citizen, I seek basic fairness.”
She said that “everyone in this country [the US]”, has a gay relative.
Podrasky lives in San Francisco and said that she normally only sees Justice Roberts on family occasions. She said he knew she was gay and that she hoped he would meet Fasano during their visit.
