A woman filed a lawsuit after her employer refused to allow her to cover her same-sex spouse on her health insurance policy. Her employer was the United States Government. A court ruled that she should be allowed to cover her same-sex spouse on her employer sponsored health insurance.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and the District of Columbia are states that issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In Maryland, a bill that has been passed by the Maryland House of Representatives is being heard by the Maryland Senate. That bill, if passed, would legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland.
Recently, the New Jersey Senate and the New Jersey House of Representatives voted to legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Christie chose to veto that bill. In other words, each individual state gets to create their own laws regarding same-sex marriage.
The California Supreme Court decided, on May 15, 2008, that same-sex couples had the right to marry in the state of California. On November 4, 2008, Proposition 8 passed. That amendment changed the California Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. In other words, Proposition 8 made it so that the state of California would no longer preform or recognize same-sex marriages.
Since then, on February 7, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. California is not currently allowing same-sex marriages to be preformed. However, it does recognize the same-sex marriages that happened within the window of time between May 15, 2008, and November 4, 2008.
Karen Golinski got married to her spouse, Amy Cunninghis, in California during the five month span of time where same-sex marriage was legally recognized in California. Karen has worked as a staff attorney for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California, for several years. The court allows married couples to include their spouse on their employer sponsored health insurance plan. However, the court was not allowing Karen to include her spouse on her health plan.
Karen Golinski filed a lawsuit against the United States Government after her employer, (which is part of the United States Government) refused to allow her to cover her spouse through her employer sponsored health plan. The opposing attorney, from the U.S. Department of Justice, originally argued that the Defense of Marriage Act prohibited Karen Golinski from including her spouse in her health plan because her spouse was not a man.
The case was heard by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. He ruled that part of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. He also ruled that a federal worker should be allowed to enroll her same-sex spouse in her health insurance coverage.
Image by Adam Engelhart on Flickr