Eight couples are suing Nevada in an effort to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriages, claiming the law contradicts a domestic partnership act passed in 2009.
According to the
Las Vegas Sun, the eight same-sex couples, backed by a gay rights legal fund, say the law should be declared unconstitutional because it violates Nevada’s Domestic Partnership law, which gives registered domestic partners the same family, parenting, and relationship rights as straight male-female couples.
The plaintiffs in the federal case include couples who could not be married in Nevada because they were the same sex, as well as gay couples who married elsewhere but faced discrimination after moving to Nevada.
The couples are hoping for a decision similar to one handed down in February by a federal appeals court in California. The court struck down the state’s voter-approved ban on gay marriages.
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