Pa. gay couples may gain rights with N.Y. wedding
This weekend, Pennsylvania’s neighbor to the north, New York, starts granting same-sex couples the right to wed.
If a same-sex couple from Pennsylvania travels to New York or another state to get married, they may benefit, according to Philadelphia family law attorney Richard Bost.
“They may have gained some rights. Especially with employers. They might get health-care benefits or other things that opposite sex couples get when they marry,” Bost said. “It really depends on the employer and whether they’ll extend them or not. My partner and I got married in California and, because of that, I have dental coverage from his employer. It was sort of a prerequisite for extending the benefits.”
Bost said some companies wanted to offer benefits to same-sex partners of employees.
“But there was no sort of legal mechanism to recognize relationships,” he said. “So by having a civil union now or by having a New York marriage, a lot of times that’ll immediately qualify people for employer sponsored benefits.”
Bost, who lives in Wilmington, says he knows people are excited to have civil unions in Delaware when that law goes into effect Jan. 1.
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