From militarytimes.com
JUNEAU, Alaska — An Alaska woman alleges the state is wrongly enforcing laws barring recognition of same-sex marriages, five years after a federal judge found such a ban to be unconstitutional.
In a lawsuit, attorneys for Denali Nicole Smith say Smith was denied eligibility for the check paid to residents from Alaska’s oil-wealth fund that she would have been eligible for had her military spouse been a man.
Department of Law spokeswoman Cori Mills said the department had not been aware of the complaint and would need to review its claims.
The lawsuit, first reported by Anchorage television station KTVA, seeks payment of the check. It also seeks a list of individuals since 2014 denied checks based on laws or a provision in the state constitution barring same-sex marriage, and payments of dividends to any such individuals.
In late 2014, a federal judge deemed Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court gave same-sex couples nationally the right to marry.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat, said Thursday that even if laws remain on the books barring same-sex marriage, those were nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It’s not the law anymore in Alaska,” he said of a ban on same-sex marriage. “Even though it’s still on the books, if you were to open up a constitution, you’ll see it there, but it’s not effective. It’s nullified.”
Read the full story at militarytimes.com.
