MONTANA: State Supreme Court Rejects Equal Benefits For Gay Couples

The Montana state Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a lower court's ruling that gay couples are not entitled to the same benefits as married straight couples.

The court wrote in Monday's 4-3 decision the request was "overly broad" and sided with a lower court's decision last year to dismiss the lawsuit. But the Supreme Court left the door open for the couples to modify their request and try again. The couples are not asking to for the right to marry. Instead, they argue the state is constitutionally required to let them make the same decisions about their families' health care and finances as married couples.  The state has argued that spousal benefits are limited by definition to married couples. It argues that any decision to expand them needs to be made by the Legislature.