Archive

• Court of Appeals rules that denying domestic violence protection to persons in same-sex dating relationships is unconstitutional

  This entry was contributed by Cheryl Howell on January 5, 2021 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Domestic Violence.

  **After this entry was posted, the North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals in M.E. v. T.J. and left the holding of the Court of Appeals regarding same-sex dating relationships undisturbed. M.E. v. T.J., _ N.C. _ (March 11, 2022), affirming as modified, 275 N.C. App. 528 (2020).

  In this post on August 15, 2017, DVPOs for Same-Sex Dating Relationships?, my former colleague Jeff Welty discussed the constitutionality of G.S. 50B-1(b)(6) in light of recent rulings by the United States Supreme Court addressing the rights of same-sex couples and in light of a South Carolina appellate court ruling that providing domestic violence protection to persons in heterosexual dating relationships while denying protection to persons in same-sex dating relationships is unconstitutional. Like the South Carolina statute, N.C.G.S. 50B-1(b)(6) provides that while persons of the opposite sex in a dating relationship are eligible for a DVPO, persons of the same sex in a dating relationship are not eligible for protection. On December 31, 2020, in M.E. v. T.J., the North Carolina Court of Appeals held this provision unconstitutional as applied to deny a plaintiff protection from domestic violence simply because plaintiff and defendant had been in a same-sex dating relationship rather than a heterosexual relationship.

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• DVPOs for Same-Sex Dating Relationships?

  This entry was contributed by Jeff Welty on August 15, 2017 at 10:47 am and is filed under Domestic Violence.

  This post is also published on the NC Criminal Law blog. 

  Domestic violence protective orders (DVPOs) are available to “persons of the opposite sex who are . . . or have been in a dating relationship,” and who are able to establish that the person that they are or were dating committed an act of domestic violence against them. Persons of the same sex who are or were in a dating relationship don’t have the same opportunity. Is that constitutional? The Supreme Court of South Carolina just addressed a related question, and its opinion suggests that the answer is no. Continue Reading

• More on DVPOs: What is a ‘Dating Relationship’?

  This entry was contributed by Cheryl Howell on July 10, 2015 at 5:00 am and is filed under Domestic Violence, Family Law.

  In my last post, Ex Parte DVPOs, I promised more on ex parte DVPOs. But the Court of Appeals issued an important decision this week on another aspect of Chapter 50B – the definition of ‘dating relationship’ – so I’ll come back to ex parte orders later.

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