Lawsuit seeks equal immigration treatment for same-sex couples.

The NYT headline is "Noncitizens Sue Over U.S. Gay Marriage Ban," but both the citizen and the noncitizen are parties to the suits, and I think it's obvious that the claim of the citizen spouse is stronger. Why is one married American citizen treated differently from another married American citizen with respect to the ease with which her/his spouse can obtain legal residence in the United States?

Under [the Defense of Marriage Act], federal authorities do not recognize same-sex marriages, even from states that allow them. In recent years, as same-sex marriage became legal in several states, gay and lesbian couples have come forward to say they were facing a painful choice: either deportation for the immigrant or exile to life in a foreign country for the American.

“I’m a citizen of this country just like anybody else,” said Heather Morgan, 36, a plaintiff in the lawsuit together with her spouse, María del Mar Verdugo Yañez, 42, who is from Spain. After a 13-year friendship that evolved into a romance, the couple was married in August 2011 in New York City, where they live.

What a lovely couple they've chosen as the face of this lawsuit! I'm absolutely unsurprised that the NYT features the attractive female same-sex couple rather than males.