February – The United States Tax Court ruled in O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner that taxpayers may deduct the medical costs associated with treating gender identity disorder from their federal income taxes.
March – Marriage licenses become available to same-sex couples in the District of Columbia and marriages begin on March 9.
June – United States President Barack Obama issues a memorandum ordering federal departments and agencies to extend spousal benefits to same-sex couples to the extent permitted by the Defense of Marriage Act.
– Same-sex marriage in Iceland is legalized and Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir and her partner, Jónína Leósdóttir, are among the first to make use of the law.
July – United States district court judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled in two cases that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. In Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services Tauro said that the definition of marriage enacted by Congress for federal purposes violates the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and “encroaches upon the firmly entrenched province of the state” by treating some couples with Massachusetts marriage licenses differently than others. In Gill v. Office of Personnel Management brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, he said the law violates the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
– Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America opens in California. The suit, brought by an LGBT Republican organization, challenges the constitutionality of the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that excludes openly homosexual people from serving in the military.
August – In Perry v. Schwarzenegger, District Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled that Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, violates the “Equal Protection Clause” and the “Due Process Clause” of the United States Constitution. He ruled that there is no rational basis for singling out homosexual couples for denial of marriage licenses. The case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, who were set to hear expedited arguments in the week of Dec. 6.
September -Judge Virginia A. Phillips of the United States District Court for the Central District of California ruled in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violates the Fifth and First Amendments to the United States Constitution. An appeals court issued a temporary stay pending further appeal.
– New York Governor David Paterson signs a bill into law allowing unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, to adopt children. The new law also replaces the term “husband and wife” with the gender-neutral “married couple.”
– A Washington judges ruled on remand, in Witt v. Department of the Air Force, that Major Margaret Witt, discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, must be reinstated in the Air Force.