Alaska Supreme Court Rules LGBT Couples Qualify for Tax Exemptions

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that tax exemptions available to married couples must be provided to same-sex spouses even though the state bans gay marriage, Reuters reports. The tax exemption is for senior citizens and disabled veterans that sometimes take martial status into account, Reuters further reports.

'"For purposes of analyzing the effects of the exemption program, we hold that committed same-sex domestic partners who would enter into marriages recognized in Alaska if they could are similarly situated to those opposite-sex couples who, by marrying, have entered into domestic partnerships formally recognized in Alaska,' the Alaska Supreme Court's written opinion stated," Reuters reports.