that banned same-sex marriage, by 69.6% in 2000 and 67.1% in 2002. On May 21, 2009, the Nevada Legislature passed the Nevada Domestic Partnership Act to grant both opposite-sex and same-sex couples many of the responsibilities, obligations, rights, entitlements and benefits of marriage under the designation "domestic partnership" rather than "marriage". Governor Jim Gibbons vetoed the legislation, saying he did not personally oppose rights for domestic partners but felt he needed to respect the voters' wishes on the question. On May 30 and 31, both the Assembly and Senate overrode his veto. The law went into effect on October 1, 2009. It exempted both private and public employers from having to provide medical coverage for the domestic partners of their employees even if they did so for their employees' married spouses. Whether other jurisdictions will recognize a Nevada domestic partnership is uncertain, as are some parental rights normally held by married couples. Even in Arizona, the status of domestic partner can be misunderstood and is not always recognized as the equivalent of marriage. On April 10, 2012, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit, Sevcik v. Sandoval, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on behalf of eight same-sex couples, claiming that Nevada's categorization of same-sex domestic partnerships consigns same-sex couples to "a lesser, second-class status" and constitutes a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. Chief Judge Robert Jones ruled on November 29 that Nevada's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. Lambda Legal said it would appeal the decision. On October 7, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Question 2, explicitly reversing Judge Robert Jones' district court ruling, thus making same-sex marriages legal. Since July 1, 2017, Nevada's marriage statute has incorporated gender-neutral language, thereby explicitly recognizing same-sex marriage in state law. On November 3, 2020, Nevada voters amended the Nevada Constitution to remove the 2002 language banning same-sex marriage. The measure, known as Question 2, was approved with 62% in favor. In December 2020, the Nevada Supreme Court concluded that the state must retroactively recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions before the Sevcik decision in 2014. Federal income tax The Internal Revenue Service ruled in 2013, based on the Supreme Court DOMA ruling, that same-sex individuals who have been married in any state where same-sex marriage is legal may file their federal returns