The Latest News January 2022

Tomorrow, February 1st, starts the beginning of LGBTQ history month. LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈 is the initialization for Lesbian Gay Bisexual, Transgender and Queer. The month of February provides a time to celebrate and reflect on the accomplishments and history of our community as well as to honor those trailblazers who came before us, and also to look to the future to protect and expand our rights.

Selected excerpt(s) and linked article courtesy of Molly Swamy, latestly(dot)com
Royalty-free photo courtesy of UnSplash

Concetta Spirio.  A Compassionate Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator & Peacemaker Providing The Highest Level of Legal Representation For Over 34 Years.

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So many times we look at the negative in life and fail to recognize the positive - and praise the positive!  I have always been a person who feels it's important to tell someone when they have done a good job and also take stock of all the good things we should be grateful for.

This article explores the 8 big signs your marriage is NOT in trouble.  What a wonderful thing to look at your relationship and see all the positives of what is working well.  This is not to say that a relationship is not work.  It's important to realize the things that are going well and the things you are doing to keep it working that are important. 

One point that I want to add to this list is that laughter truly is the best medicine for everyone.  So have fun, find joy and laugh!

Selected excerpt(s) and linked article courtesy of Jeremy Brown, fatherly(dot)com
Royalty-free photo courtesy of UnSplash

Concetta Spirio.  A Compassionate Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator & Peacemaker Providing The Highest Level of Legal Representation For Over 34 Years.

#Concetta #ConcettaSpirio #ConcettaLaw #SpirioLaw #Marriage #Divorce #RealEstate #Litigation #Wills #Trusts #Estates #Mediation #CollaborativeDivorce #LongIsland #Suffolk #Nassau #Islip #Sayville #LGBT

Divorce can be difficult for everyone, but sometimes parents lose sight of how truly difficult it is for children of divorce.  We all say things that we may regret, but it is critical if you are going thorough a divorce to be cautious and intentional with how you speak with your children. 

For parents who don’t mind their words, not only can it come back to haunt them in divorce court, but they can do real harm to their children and the people around them.  Especially when you are angry, frustrated and fed up, it is important to try to take a breath, reflect and think before you speak, and in some instances, truly bite your tongue.  There are certain things you should never say and once said are never truly taken back. 

This article gives some clear examples from a few different experts on things definitely not to say to your children.  Some of these are simple that you might not even think of, like “I’ll be lonely until you get back”.  In that statement you are now burdening your child with your wellbeing and happiness.

This is a good read for all parents, whether or not you are going through a divorce...but especially if you are. 

Selected excerpt(s) and linked article courtesy of Jeremy Brown, Fatherly & YourTango(dot)com
Royalty-free photo courtesy of UnSplash

Concetta Spirio.  A Compassionate Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator & Peacemaker Providing The Highest Level of Legal Representation For Over 34 Years.

#Concetta #ConcettaSpirio #ConcettaLaw #SpirioLaw #Marriage #Divorce #RealEstate #Litigation #Wills #Trusts #Estates #Mediation #CollaborativeDivorce #LongIsland #Suffolk #Nassau #Islip #Sayville #LGBT

As the Pandemic changed things for married people (spending more time with one another than they previously did working outside the home), likewise, the onset of retirement often creates the same situation.  When couples have had somewhat independent lives through their work life and being away from home, they find that spending 24/7 with one another creates difficulties in a marriage, whether it be retirement or as a result of a pandemic.

This article discusses a recipe for success to keep a marriage healthy after you have retired.  One of the important things cited by this article, is making sure you give each other time and the space to have independent time alone. Another key is to respect one another and openly communicate. 

Selected excerpt(s) and linked article courtesy of Louisa Rogers, travelawaits(dot)com
Royalty-free photo courtesy of UnSplash

Concetta Spirio.  A Compassionate Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator & Peacemaker Providing The Highest Level of Legal Representation For Over 34 Years.

#Concetta #ConcettaSpirio #ConcettaLaw #SpirioLaw #Marriage #Divorce #RealEstate #Litigation #Wills #Trusts #Estates #Mediation #CollaborativeDivorce #LongIsland #Suffolk #Nassau #Islip #Sayville #LGBT

It's hard to believe that after 54 years of the Supreme Court's Decision in Loving v Virginia that interracial marriage may be an issue before the Supreme Court yet again.  I guess in the last five years we have seen more hatred of different segments of our society expressed, including the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as LGBTQ rights.   Many may not remember, but it used to be illegal to transport a woman across state lines for purposes of a personal relationship or to interracially marry. 

It seems the antipathy towards interracial marriage is now arising once again.  There is not a case to overturn interracial marriage, but this article is written by the Civil Rights Attorney who co-represented the interracial couple in the landmark case of Loving v Virginia. He speaks about a case that is currently before the Supreme Court in which a severely mentally ill black man suffering from schizophrenia and psychosis is on trial for murdering his estranged wife and children.  His wife was white, and their children are products of their interracial marriage.  The Jurors who decided that case were asked their views on interracial marriage and people of different races having children.  According to the Supreme Court Petition, three Jurors expressed opposition to one or both of these issues.  One Juror said I don’t believe God intended for this and another said we should stay with our blood line.  The third stated that interracial marriage was harmful for children as they did not have a specific race to belong to. 

I, as many others thought, that this country had evolved beyond these archaic views.  54 years ago, the Trial Court that imposed the criminal penalty on the Lovings’ actually stated Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents.  And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage.  The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.  I find this quotation and statement absolutely astounding now as well as then., but the law that created criminality for interracial marriages was based on purported justifications of “racial integrity” and preventing the “corruption of blood” themes that still echo through the Jurors' statements in the case now being sent to the Supreme Court.

Selected excerpt(s) and linked article courtesy of Philip Hirschkop, Civil Rights Attorney, Bloomberglaw(dot)com
Royalty-free photo courtesy of UnSplash

Concetta Spirio.  A Compassionate Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator & Peacemaker Providing The Highest Level of Legal Representation For Over 34 Years.

#Concetta #ConcettaSpirio #ConcettaLaw #SpirioLaw #Marriage #Divorce #RealEstate #Litigation #Wills #Trusts #Estates #Mediation #CollaborativeDivorce #LongIsland #Suffolk #Nassau #Islip #Sayville #LGBT #SupremeCourt #LovingvVirginia #Loving #Virginia #BLM #BlackLivesMatter #PhilipHirschkop

This past holiday season we lost another female icon for women’s rights, Sarah Weddington, a minister’s daughter who became a Texas lawyer, and who, at 26, successfully argued the landmark abortion rights case of Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court, died this past Sunday at the age of 76.

She actually argued Roe v Wade before the High Court twice.  Once in December 1971 and again in October 1972, which ultimately resulted in the next year’s 7 to 2 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.  Only a few years after graduating law school, which shows extreme bravery itself, she and her former classmate, Linda Coffee, brought a class action lawsuit on behalf of a pregnant woman (Jane Roe), challenging a state law that largely banned abortions in Texas.  It was brought against the then Dallas County District Attorney, Henry Wade.  As we all know this case ultimately led to the Supreme Court.

Oddly enough, Weddington’s death, some 50 years later, comes as the Supreme Court is facing challenges to the historic case of Roe v Wade.  Currently the Supreme Court is considering a case over Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.  This case is widely considered to be the most serious challenge in years to Roe v. Wade.  

Ms. Weddington was very active in politics.   She was a state law maker in the Texas House of Representatives, before becoming general counsel of the US Department of Agriculture and later worked as an advisor on women’s issues to President Jimmy Carter. 

She wrote a book on Roe v Wade and gave many lectures and taught many courses at the University of Texas at Houston as well as Texan’s Women’s University on Leadership, Law and Gender Discrimination.  She was so active she even attended the 2019 signing ceremony for a New York law meant to safeguard abortion rights, should Roe v Wade be overturned.  

It is the hard and valiant work of women like Ms. Weddington who have secured and helped save women’s rights over the years.  She will be sorely missed. 

Thank you, from all of us, for all the hard work.  May you rest in peace.

Selected excerpt(s) and linked article courtesy of The Associated Press
Royalty-free photo courtesy of UnSplash

Concetta Spirio.  A Compassionate Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator & Peacemaker Providing The Highest Level of Legal Representation For Over 34 Years.

#Concetta #ConcettaSpirio #ConcettaLaw #SpirioLaw #Marriage #Divorce #RealEstate #Litigation #Wills #Trusts #Estates #Mediation #CollaborativeDivorce #LongIsland #Suffolk #Nassau #Islip #Sayville #LGBT #RoeVWade #SarahWeddington #SupremeCourt