A ruling for equality: a federal court strikes down Nebraska's sweeping restrictions on same-sex relationships, but its marriage ban remains.

A federal judge on May 12 struck down Nebraska's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, marking the first time any state's antigay marriage amendment has been voided by a federal court. And while the ruling won't pave the way for marriage equality in Nebraska, or anywhere else, it does provide a powerful rebuke of sweeping state-level laws and constitutional amendments that extend beyond just banning marriages and civil unions.

The legal challenge focused on provisions in the amendment that prohibited all employers and organizations in the state--including the legislature--from offering domestic-partner benefits. "The Nebraska amendment essentially stopped any debate on protecting same sex couples," says Seth Kilbourn, marriage project director at the Human Rights Campaign, adding that it effectively Socked gays and lesbians out of the democratic process.

The gay rights group Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project filed the challenge, claiming that the domestic-partner benefits prohibition violated the U.S. Constitution's equal protection guarantees by impeding gays from government access. U.S. district judge Joseph Bataillon agreed, and ruled that the amendment, approved by more than 70% of voters in 2000, "imposes significant burdens on both the expressive and intimate associational rights" of lesbians and gays. Bataillon also said the amendment interfered in several other legal areas, including the rights of foster parents, adopted children, and people living in nontraditional families.

The court's decision does not permit gays to marry or enter into civil unions, notes David Buckel, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal. In fact, Buckel says, marriage equality was never argued before the court: "We didn't ask the judge for marriage or domestic-partner benefits, and he clarified that he was not entertaining such requests."

The ruling also won't have much of an effect on the fight for marriage rights, Buckel says. Nebraska attorney general Jon Bruning said he will appeal the decision. But any higher court rulings upholding the ban's repeal will not mean that other anti gay marriage restrictions, which exist in 45 of the 50 states, could fall. Instead, it could set a precedent for future challenges to broad provisions in state-level bans, which currently exist in a handful of states.

Despite the fact that it doesn't address the right to marry, the Nebraska decision has since become an antigay conservative rallying cry for the passage of a federal constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying nationwide, says Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry. "They don't care about accuracy and truth; they care about their agenda and spinning," he says. "They're going to push their antigay, anti-choice agenda no matter what happens."