Karen Wood and Terry Tavel are plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit to provide government employee benefits to partners of same-sex couples.

Karen Wood & Terry Tavel

After the Alaska state constitution was amended to reserve marriage to opposite sex-couples in 1998, the ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking an equal opportunity for same-sex couples to enjoy certain important benefits that married couples enjoy under state law. The ACLU represents nine lesbian and gay state and municipal employees and retirees and their partners who do not have access to health, pension, and other employment benefits to which heterosexual public employees and their spouses have access. In its lawsuit, the ACLU demands that state and municipal employers make domestic partner employment benefits available to their lesbian and gay employees and their partners, as a growing number of private employers and other governmental employers have done.

Status: Victory! Alaska Supreme Court rules that gay and lesbian government employees must be provided domestic partner benefits.

Legal Documents
> Alaska CLU v. State of Alaska - Decision (10/28/2005)
> Alaska CLU v. State of Alaska - Mari Millington Friend-of-the-Court Brief (9/6/2005)

Press
> Unanimous Alaska Supreme Court Says It Is Unconstitutional to Deny Equal Benefits to Lesbian and Gay State Employees (10/28/2005)
> ACLU Urges Alaska Supreme Court to Grant Lesbian and Gay Employees Partnership Benefits (12/16/2002)
> As Gay Partner Benefits Case Goes To Alaska High Court, Uninsured Woman Comes Forward Illustrating 'Catch-22' (5/22/2002)
> Hearing Tomorrow in Alaska's Gay Marriage 'Catch-22' Could Impact Other States that Tie Benefits to Marriage (4/16/2001)
> ACLU Lawsuit Seeks Equal Benefits for Alaska's Gay and Lesbian Employees (10/27/1999)

Additional Resources
> Alaska CLU v. State of Alaska Opening Brief (4/1/2005)
> Alaska CLU v. State of Alaska Reply Brief (4/1/2005)
> Alaska CLU v. State of Alaska Response to State's Reply Brief (4/1/2005)
> Alaska CLU v. State of Alaska Supplemental Brief (4/1/2005)
> Lambda Legal Amicus Brief (4/1/2005)