A federal judge on Thursday delivered the latest legal blow to the Defense of Marriage Act, ruling that a provision in the federal law that has been used to limit same-sex spouses of state workers in California from obtaining long-term care insurance is unconstitutional.
The San Jose Mercury News explains that U.S. district judge Claudia Wilken banned the California Public Employees' Retirement System, known as CalPERS, from using DOMA or a related tax provision from the Internal Revenue Service to deny same-sex couples and domestic partners their insurance rights.
The system had refused to let gay spouses enroll in its federally-approved program on the grounds they were excluded by DOMA, a law that bars federal recognition of same-sex couples and one that has been used to exclude gay and lesbian unions from various federal benefits.
