Within weeks of Karen Golonksi’s wedding, she applied to add her spouse to her employer-sponsored health care plan, a move that would save the couple thousands of dollars a year. But because Golinski is married to another woman and works for the U.S. government, her claim for benefits has morphed into a 4-year multi-layered legal challenge to a 1996 law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing unions like hers. The outcome carries economic and social consequences for gay, lesbian and bisexual couples, who now are unable to access Social Security survivor benefits, file joint income taxes, inherit a deceased spouse’s pension or obtain family health insurance according to a recent report in the Washington Post.