Representing seven same-sex couples, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the State of Montana claiming not offering domestic partnerships for gays violates the state’s constitution — a document that also, thanks to voters in 2004, includes a DOMA clause.
The ACLU states in a release: “Montana law automatically grants married opposite-sex couples safeguards upon which they can depend in times of need. But, under Montana law, it is possible for same-sex couples to be barred from visiting their partners in the hospital and to be left out of conversations about emergency medical care. Montana inheritance laws refuse to recognize same-sex couples, and can leave surviving partners with nothing if their partners die without valid wills. Today’s lawsuit seeks a mechanism such as the domestic partnership laws adopted by several other states to provide similar protections for committed same-sex couples.”
