A federal judge in California has found
a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bars federal
recognition of the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples, to be
unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Claudia
Wilken on Thursday ruled in favor of gay state workers who are barred
from equal access to the long-term care plan offered by the
California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS).
California recognizes the unions of gay
couples with domestic partnerships and the marriages of 18,000
couples who wed before voters approved Proposition 8, the state's gay
marriage ban enacted in 2008.
Wilken found that the statutory
preclusion of gay spouses and registered domestic partners violates
the United States Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. She
found that the DOMA exception was not “rationally related to a
legitimate government interest.”
Wilkens ordered CalPERS to end the
practice of excluding the spouses and partners of gay state workers
but put her decision on hold during an appeal, if one is sought.
The plaintiffs and class in the case,
Dragovich v. CalPERS, were represented by the Legal Aid
Society.
“I've been in a committed
relationship with my partner for more than 30 years,” plaintiff
Michael Dragovich said in a statement. “I am so pleased that our
relationship will now be treated equally to the committed
relationships of my heterosexual co-workers.”
Plaintiffs Patricia Fitzsimmons and
Elizabeth Litteral, a couple in their 50s, married in 2008 and have
been denied enrollment in the insurance plan. “We want to plan
responsibly for our whole lives,” Fitzsimmons said. “We don't
want to rely on our daughter for care – we want her to live her own
life.”
(Full
text of the opinion.)