Same-sex couples facing illness sue North Carolina for marriage recognition

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Same-sex couples facing illness sue North Carolina for marriage recognition

By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - Three lesbian couples facing urgent health issues sued on Wednesday to force North Carolina to acknowledge their same-sex marriages and allow access to insurance, tax and inheritance benefits. If the ailing spouse dies before North Carolina recognizes the marriages, the surviving spouse will be denied benefits given to married couples, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Greensboro. "Without the legal security that only marriage affords, these families are left vulnerable," said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina. The ACLU has sought to expand gay-marriage rights in North Carolina, which in 2012 became the last state in the South to add a voter-approved ban on gay marriage to its constitution.

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