The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Women’s Law Project filed a lawsuit on August 20, 2013, in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Bradley Ankney, a math teacher for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, over the AIU’s refusal to provide health insurance and other benefits to the same-sex partners of its employees while providing those benefits to employees’ spouses. Ankney, who is gay, claims that the AIU’s policy discriminates against employees on the basis of sexual orientation in violation of the Allegheny County Human Relations Act.
The May 20, 2014, federal court decision striking down Pennsylvania’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples resolved Ankney’s claim for injunctive relief as it allowed same-sex couples to marry and receive benefits from the AIU on the same terms as opposite-sex married couples.
