BOSTON — A Boston-based legal group on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Connecticut lawsuit challenging a key portion of a federal law that denies tax, health and other benefits to married gay couples.
A federal judge in Connecticut ruled last month that Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. The ruling came in the case of six married gay couples and a widower from Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont who sued after being denied federal benefits.
DOMA defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. Section 3 of the law restricts federal marriage benefits to heterosexual married couples.
Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders filed a petition Wednesday asking the Supreme Court to review the ruling.
A Congressional group and the U.S. Justice Department have asked the Supreme Court to review a ruling by a federal judge in Massachusetts striking down the same provision of the law in two separate lawsuits.
GLAD argues that the Connecticut lawsuit is a particularly good case for the high court to review because it demonstrates DOMA's impact on a range of federal programs, including federal income tax, Society Security, and federal employee and retirement benefits.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...WS11/120829923