Last Wednesday, a New Hampshire judge, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Kathleen McGuire, ruled that New Hampshire discriminated against two lesbian state employees and their families when the state denied them heath-care benefits and bereavement leave.

“The state’s attempt to couch the issue as one wherein all unmarried individuals are impacted equally, avoids . . . reality,” the judge wrote…

The ruling reversed a 2002 decision by the state Human Rights Commission involving Patricia Bedford of Concord and Anne Breen of Salisbury, both employees of state colleges and in relationships with long-term partners.

The State Employees Association has sought domestic-partner benefits for several years, and union President Gary Smith applauded the judge’s ruling, saying all state employees should be given health-care benefits.

Attorney General Kelly Ayotte will appeal this decision, according to her office.

The Concord Monitor featured an editorial on Judge McGuire’s ruling. Here’s part of it:

Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Kathleen McGuire made the right call when she ruled that the domestic partners of two lesbian state employees were entitled to health benefits. The state’s law on the matter is clear. It is illegal for employers of six or more people to deny benefits “on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation.”

McGuire didn’t buy the tortured logic of the state Human Rights Commission. The commission had rejected the women’s claims without a hearing, then refused to reopen the investigation. The women appealed, and in court, the commission argued that the women had no right to file a complaint, because they were challenging the constitutionality of the state’s marriage laws, not their denial of benefits. That was neither true nor relevant.

State rules governing employee contracts call for benefits to be provided to spouses and family members. The rules do not specifically bar the provision of benefits to domestic partners and are thus inclusive, not restrictive, McGuire said.

Read it all here.