By Mark Singer (Washington DC) JAN 20 | In Oakland, California, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken issued a ruling Tuesday that has LGBTQ equality rights advocates hopeful in a case involving California state employees and long-term healthcare benefits. The San Francisco Chronicle had reported the suit was filed over the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s refusal to enroll the spouses in a federally approved long-term care plan. The agency said it does not sign up same-sex spouses because the Defense of Marriage Act denies federal tax benefits to any state that covers them.
The Judge turned down the Department of Justice request to dismiss the suit in this case which was brought by six plaintiffs, who are suing for federally approved long-term health benefits that they have been denied under the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CALPERS). The couples married during the brief window of time in California when same-sex marriages were legal prior to passage of Proposition 8.
Judge Wilken rejected the government's arguments that the Defense Of Marriage Act preserves the status quo, allowing for individual states to pass laws allowing same-sex marriages. She wrote in the 29-page order:
"DOMA alters the status quo because it impairs the states' authority to define marriage, by robbing states of the power to allow same-sex civil marriages that will be recognized under federal law."
Justice Department attorneys additionally argued that DOMA further allows for a uniform federal policy for benefits and rights stemming from marriage, government attorneys argued.
Judge Wilken stated that the state employees can sue for discrimination over the federal government’s exclusion of their same-sex spouses from a long-term health care program and signaled that she is likely to overturn provisions of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples.
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