The court of appeal affirmed an order. The court held that a preliminary injunction against a state law that would terminate health-care benefits for the same-sex partners of state employees who showed that the law adversely affected a class of employees on the basis of their sexual orientation was properly granted on equal-protection grounds.
The state of Arizona adopted amendments to the state administrative code that offered same-sex domestic partners of state employees access to health-care benefits. Later that year, however, voters approved a ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. The next year, the state legislature enacted a statute (here, §O) that redefined dependents as spouses and thus would eliminate health-care coverage for domestic partners of state employees.
