<div class='node-body'><p>A federal judge in California this week, ruling in favor of a lawsuit brought by state workers who sued the <span id="mn_Global"><span id="mn_Article">public-employee pension system for its refusal to cover same-sex couples, declared the Defense of Marriage Act (or DOMA) to be unconstitutional and an assault on the equal protections clause.</span></span></p></div><div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-news-hp-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<img src="http://www.commondreams.org/sites/commondreams.org/files/imagecache/news_archive_thumbnail/article_images/a-gay-marriage-supporter--007.jpg" alt="[field_image_caption-raw]" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-news_archive_thumbnail imagecache-default imagecache-news_archive_thumbnail_default" /> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/26-3" target="_blank">read more</a></p>