9th circuit rules domestic partnerships separate and not equal

From ThinkProgress:

The Executive Committee of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council has ruled that a federal law clerk in Oregon who was denied health benefits for her same-sex domestic partner was discriminated against and must be compensated....

The decision navigates the confusing conflict between how states and the federal government recognize same-sex relationships since the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (United States v. Windsor). Oregon does not offer marriage, but does recognize and provide benefits to same-sex domestic partners. The federal government now recognizes same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal, but the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) does not recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships. The ruling indicates that this conflict creates fault on both ends: Oregon is discriminating by not providing Fonberg with marriage and the federal government is discriminating by limiting what they’ll recognize to relationships called “marriages”: