Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has asked the Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court decision which kept in place health care benefits for the partners of gay and lesbian state employees.

Chris Geidner, formerly of gay weekly Metro Weekly and soon to be at Buzzfeed, first reported on the request.

Lambda Legal sued the state after lawmakers approved and Brewer signed a bill which ended the state's domestic partner benefits. Ending the program would disproportionately affect gay couples, who cannot legally marry in Arizona.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Diaz v. Brewer upheld a circuit court ruling which kept the law from taking effect.

Writing for the court, Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder, noted: “While the district court noted that Section O [the provision at issue] was not discriminatory on its face, because it affected both same-sex and different-sex couples, the court held that Section O had a discriminatory effect. This is because, under Arizona law, different-sex couples could retain their health coverage by marrying, but same-sex couples could not.”