From Doe v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, decided Friday by Judge Susan Illston (N.D. Cal.):
John Doe and Robert Roe are a gay couple who have been in a "committed, but discreet," relationship for 33 years, and who were married in California in 2013. Doe is a United States citizen and California resident who lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia most of the year, where he works for a company as legal counsel. Roe is a Saudi Arabian citizen who, until May 2021, was living full-time in Riyadh and working as a result estate [real estate? -EV] investor. Since 1989, Doe and Roe lived together in Saudi Arabia, but they were forced to keep their relationship and sexual orientation hidden because homosexuality has been treated as a capital offense in Saudi Arabia. "Living very carefully, they successfully kept their 33-year relationship a secret from the government, strangers, employers, friends, and family, alike."
In 2021, Doe and Roe were flying on Lufthansa from Riyadh to San Francisco. For complicated reasons related to U.S. COVID-related travel rules, Doe and Roe ended up having to disclose to a senior Lufthansa employee at Riydah airport that they were married under U.S. law, and the employee allegedly said that publicly; they also allege that the information about the marriage was conveyed to Saudi authorities. As a result,
