The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced new Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) inclusive interpretations of the terms "spouse" and "marriage." This update brings SEC regulations into compliance with the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor, which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act's exclusion of lawfully wedded same-sex couples from federal recognition.
The succinct SEC order states that the Commission will read the term "spouse" to include "an individual married to a person of the same sex if the couple is lawfully married under state law, regardless of the individual's domicile," and the term "marriage" to include "a marriage between individuals of the same sex." These new definitions apply to the federal securities statutes administered by the SEC, the rules and regulations promulgated under those statutes, releases, orders, and any guidance issued by the staff or the SEC. Full text of the order can be found here.
The SEC has lagged almost two years behind numerous other federal agencies that updated their regulations after the Windsor decision was announced on June 26, 2013. In August 2013, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued orders recognizing legally married same-sex couples as married for federal tax purposes.
The SEC made this announcement one week before the Supreme Court decided in Obergefell v. Hodges that the 14th Amendment requires all states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This landmark ruling only strengthens the Windsor ruling and will likely precipitate similar decisions from other agencies to make their regulations more LGBT-inclusive.
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