Sunday 3/28/93, p. 13A:

JUDGE REJECTS LESBIANS' DEATH-BENEFITS REQUEST

The surviving partner in a lesbian relationship is not entitled to her
lover's company death benefits because their marriage is not legally
recognized. a Manhattan juge ruled Saturday.  The case is believed to
be the first of its kind in the country.

Federal Judge Robert Patterson rejected the request of Sandra Rovira of
New Rochelle, N.Y., to force American Telephone & Telegraph Co. to pay
the $53,000 sickness death benefit of Marjorie Forline, who died of
cancer in 1988 after the couple had lived together for 12 years.

Forlini, an AT&T sales manager, had exchaged rigns and vows with Rovira,
a Legal Aid lawer in Queens, in a ceremony formalizing their relationship.
But Patterson said the AT&T benefits plan specifically restricted payments
to an employee's legal spouse, dependant children, and other dependant
relatives.