Both of us have made substantial pension contributions over many years which for a heterosexual couple would help pay for a surviving spouse's pension.

BBC: 'Be proud of our gay citizens'

Why, she and her lawyers argued, should her relationship with Spyer be any different when it came to rights, taxes and more than a heterosexual couple?

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No heterosexual married couple or their employers pay that penalty.

CNN: Gay Americans pay more taxes for fewer rights