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Chicago-based CNA Implements New Policy Supporting Employees’ Surviving Same-Sex Spouses

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January 8, 2015

Lambda Legal announced that Douglas Hammett-Lair (Doug) started receiving spousal survivor benefits after CNA Financial Corporation amended its retirement plan to allow many surviving same-sex spouses to receive benefits. The change came after Lambda Legal and private counsel Louis Ascherman urged CNA to grant spousal benefits to same-sex couples together for years, if not decades, but only recently able to marry due to discriminatory marriage exclusions.

See Also: Marriage, Relationships, Same-sex relationships, Seniors
#MarriageFriday: What to Expect

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January 7, 2015

Friday is a big day for marriage equality. Here's everything you need to know.

See Also: Marriage, Same-sex relationships, U.S. Supreme Court
#NotDoneYet - Marriage

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December 22, 2014

Highlights of Lambda Legal's marriage equality work in 2014 and goals for 2015.

See Also: #NotDoneYet, Marriage, Relationships, Same-sex relationships
Victory! Federal Court Strikes Down West Virginia Marriage Ban

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November 7, 2014

Although West Virginia’s Attorney General had already conceded that the state’s marriage ban was unconstitutional and marriages began last month, the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia made it official today, ruling in favor of Lambda Legal’s plaintiffs and striking down the discriminatory marriage ban as mandated by the U.S.

See Also: Same-sex relationships
Ohio Families to Petition Supreme Court for Review of Discriminatory Sixth Circuit Ruling

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November 7, 2014

Yesterday, over a strenuous dissent, two Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judges upheld discriminatory bans on marriage rights for same-sex couples in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, becoming the first federal circuit court after the Supreme Court’s watershed 2013 Windsor ruling to uphold such bans and departing from recent decisions from the 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th Circuits.

See Also: Marriage, Same-sex relationships
Sixth Circuit Upholds Discriminatory Bans on Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples in Four States

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November 6, 2014

Today the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld as constitutional bans on marriage rights for same-sex couples in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, becoming the first federal circuit court after the Supreme Court’s watershed 2013 Windsor ruling to uphold such bans and departing from recent decisions from the 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th Circuits.

See Also: Marriage, Same-sex relationships
Lambda Legal Sues Social Security Administration on Behalf of Gay Chicago Widower

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November 6, 2014

Today, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of Dave Williams, a widower, formerly of Arkansas, now a Chicagoan, who was denied spousal benefits after the death of his husband, Carl Allen.

See Also: Same-sex relationships, Social Security Administration
Lambda Legal Appeals Ruling That Upheld Puerto Rico’s Discriminatory Marriage Ban

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October 28, 2014

Today, Lambda Legal filed a notice of appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Conde-Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla, after the U. S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico dismissed the lawsuit seeking to end the Commonwealth’s discriminatory ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

See Also: Marriage, Same-sex relationships
The Time is Now to Allow South Carolina Same-Sex Couples to Marry

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October 23, 2014

Late yesterday Lambda Legal, in partnership with South Carolina Equality, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and for summary judgment asking the U. S. District Court for the District of South Carolina to rule swiftly and strike down South Carolina’s discriminatory ban denying same-sex couples in the state the freedom to marry.

See Also: Marriage, Same-sex relationships
Lambda Legal Sues Social Security Administration on Behalf of Texas Lesbian Widow and National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare

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October 22, 2014

Today Lambda Legal filed suit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of Kathy Murphy, a Texas widow denied spousal benefits after the death of her wife, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (the National Committee), arguing that denying Social Security benefits to same-sex spouses because they live in states that discriminate against their marriages violates the U.S. Constitution.

See Also: Marriage, Same-sex relationships