BUFFALO •Following up on its landmark legal victory that recognized lesbian and gay couples’ valid out-of-state marriages, the New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit in the Erie County Supreme Court against an insurance company for denying spousal health care benefits to a validly married lesbian couple. ,The New York Civil Liberties Union is an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union that operates in New York State.
Jeanne Kornowicz, a school psychologist at the Cheektowaga Central School District, asked her employer to provide health coverage for her wife, Joy Higgins, whom she married in Canada in 2006. She filed for the benefits in February after learning of the NYCLU’s victory in Martinez v. County of Monroe, in which an appeals court unanimously ruled that New York State must recognize valid out-of-state marriages of lesbian and gay couples.
In the Martinez case, the appeals court affirmed that the century old “marriage recognition rule” applies to valid out-of-state marriages of lesbian and gay couples. This time-honored legal principle requires that New York State recognize valid marriages that occur outside the state. The Martinez court also ruled that failure to recognize such marriages violated the state Human Rights Law’s prohibition against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Following Martinez, Gov. David Paterson’s lead counsel recently issued a memo to counsel at state agencies calling on them to follow the law and revise their policies and regulations to recognize all valid same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, Canada and now California.
The lawsuit asserts that under the Martinez ruling, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Western New York’s denial of Kornowicz’s request for benefits violates New York’s “marriage recognition rule.” It also violates the prohibition against sex discrimination set forth in the state's Human Rights Law.
“The Martinez decision was an important step toward the day when all of New York’s families can live with respect and dignity,” Lieberman said. “We must now ensure the law is enforced so that all of New York’s married couples are treated fairly, and lobby our legislators to pass the marriage bill so that no New Yorkers have to leave the state to protect their families.”
Serving as counsel on the case are Matt Faiella, Palyn Hung, Arthur Eisenberg, Christopher Dunn and cooperating attorney Richard Lipsitz. •Tim Moran
