In another volley against the Defense of Marriage Act, a California judge ruled last night that DOMA unfairly prohibit same-sex couples from participating in the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) reports Metro Weekly.
Ruling on Dragovich v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, a class-action lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ordered CalPERs not to use DOMA as a guideline because it “violates the equal protection rights of Plaintiff same-sex spouses,” as did a relevant section of the Internal Revenue Code. The court stated that “both provisions are constitutionally invalid to the extent that they exclude Plaintiff same-sex spouses and registered domestic partners from enrollment in the CalPERS long-term care plan.”
Because of the nature of the case, Judge Wilken’s ruling not likely to fuel the larger push to take down DOMA. But every little bit helps.
1equalityUSA
From the cradle to the grave, LGBT Americans, held in the pen of discrimination, have to pay more to exist. This cannot be tolerated any longer. Thank you, Judge Wilken, for advocating treating all Americans equally under civil law.
Cam
And let me guess. The same bigoted right wingers who were praying for the court to strike down Health care are going to be attacking the court for striking down DOMA.
Hypocritical bigots.
Randall Reynolds
Equality continues to accelerate as the LGBT Civil Rights movement attacks discrimination from all angles! We’re going to have full Equality sooner than we expect it.
Clockwork
It’s about time someone recognized how the tax code discriminates against:
Single people, married people filing separately, and married people filing jointly.
Explain to me why a single person should pay a higher tax rate on the same income as a same-sex couple, and everyone should pay a higher tax rate than the so called head-of-household.
Get rid of these brackets and DOMA in one swoop.
devon in CA
All the DOMA lawsuit “victories” are stayed to allow the haters to appeal.
Nothing changes, or will change, anytime soon.