The policies apply to same-sex couples, too).
That meant, for example, that normal rules on maintenance obligations would apply to same-sex unions.
only recognizes marriage between one man and one woman, these rules don't apply to same-sex couples.
It would apply to same-sex and opposite-sex couples who live together, including such pairings as a child and a grandparent, or two sisters.
Because the spousal-protection law is federal, it does not apply to same-sex couples, whose marriages are not recognized for federal legal purposes.
"The life event rules don't automatically apply to same-sex couples, but they can if the employer decides to operate the plan that way, as many employers do," Mr. Solomon said.
And not only these couples: our common honor is implicated when, as he notes, "it prohibits them from being buried together in veterans' cemeteries"; under DOMA, too, "government-integrity rules do not apply to same-sex spouses" — he mentioned the husband or wife of a Senator.
"Because the laws of marriage do not yet apply to same-gender couples, a substantial part of my practice is counseling clients on how to use the existing laws to create a framework to protect their relationships and their assets," said Arlene P. Bluth, a Manhattan lawyer who specializes in representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clients.
But Arturo Pueblita Fernández, a constitutional law professor at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City, said that fundamental spousal rights would apply to same-sex couples across the country, including alimony payments, inheritance rights and the coverage of spouses by the federal social security system, which provides health and pension benefits to most of Mexico's working population.
Listening, on Wednesday, to the oral arguments on DOMA which says that in every last federal law and regulation, the words "marriage" and "spouse" can not apply to same-sex couples, no matter what New York or Iowa or any other state says and watching the scene outside the court, where Edith Windsor, who brought the case, spoke to reporters, two answers came to mind.
