DuBois Levias Law Group congratulates the national and international LGBT community today. What an amazing day in history!
As you now know, the Supreme Court announced its decisions today in the Windsor (Section 3 of DOMA) and Perry (Prop 8) cases. This will forever change the way we at DuBois Levias practice law for our gay clients regarding marriage, divorce, adoptions and estate cases – and we couldn’t be more thrilled! For so long we’ve had to endure poor legal decisions that adversely affected our LGBT clients.Those days are over here in Washington State.
Furthermore, many of our beloved employees, whom we’ve long supported with equal benefits, are now entitled to those benefits as a matter of law under the DOMA ruling. We celebrate with them!
To quote the GSBA of Seattle, the first business chamber to be asked to sign on to the business-specific friend-of-the-court briefs in both the DOMA and Prop 8 cases:
“The United States v Windsor case challenged Section 3 of DOMA, under which same-sex spouses were precluded from accessing over 1,100 federal rights and responsibilities. As a result of this unfair and discriminatory treatment, employers and employees have been adversely impacted with greater income and payroll tax liabilities, higher administrative costs, the inability to provide equal spousal benefits and exemptions around gift and estate taxes. With the 5-4 decision striking down Section 3, equal benefits will be recognized by the federal government where same-sex marriages are recognized by the state.”
Equality is good business. Love wins.