Married gay couples sue U.S. seeking federal rights The lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts marks the first major challenge to the constitutionality of a federal law denying gay and lesbian couples access to more than 1,000 federal programs and legal protections, gay advocates say.
The suit was brought by the same lawyers who led a successful campaign to legalize gay marriage in Massachusetts in 2003, paving the way for the nation's first same-sex marriages a year later. They won a similar fight last year to make Connecticut the second U.S. state to allow gay marriage.
