Same-sex couples now have a right to marry in Connecticut. The state's Supreme Court ruled today that under the equal protection clause of Connecticut's constitution, civil unions discriminate against same-sex couples. Thus, gay couples must have the same rights as straight couples.
In a close 4-3 decision, the majority held:
Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same-sex partner of their choice. To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others.
Essentially arguing that the constitution must stay relevant to the times, the court said Connecticut's "understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection."
California's Supreme Court came to a similar conclusion this year, but voters will have a chance to amend the constitution to make same-sex marriage explicitly unconstitutional. To find out how religious people from out of state are working to pass the ban, read more.
Elders of the Mormon church went on church broadcasted-TV Wednesday to share a week-by-week plan to pass the California ban on same-sex marriage, including increased efforts to call Californians, and register like-minded voters. The message aired in California, Utah, Hawaii, and Idaho. The outcome of the California initiative may reveal whether the people share these state courts' tendencies toward marriage equality.
Marc Jacobs
Gianvito Rossi
Marc Jacobs
to Connecticut, and boo to Prop 8!
1
That's wonderful!
2we have that vote here in florida on the ballot. I wonder which way its going to go?
3Whether your religious beliefs condone or condemn gay marriage, this is a win for civil rights in the courts of this country. There is no legal reason to exclude same sex couples from the legal contract of marriage and that's what the court decided. Decisions like this make me proud to be American.
4This is a bright spot in another bad news day.
5Yay!
6I work at the law firm that argued this case. We are all excited and over joyed about this win. Words cannot describe the atmosphere when we read the decision. Thank you for sharing our happiness!!
7I agree Mydia, mostly I am glad that it was put to a vote and not handed out by some nutjob judge to make the choices for the community, its better this way.
8GO CT!!!
9Good for you, TheLeenie. Respect!
10Yay Connecticut. And just saying, not all LDS members support prop 8. I also agree with what Mydiadem said.
11
12I'm thrilled; it's a great move!
13That is wonderful.
14Great news! and congrats, theleenie!
15YAY for my state!
16That's awesome!
17Congrats, TheLeenie!
I will be so happy when the debate on gay marriage is a thing of the past.
18I hope Connecticut (and California) can allow gay marriage long enough to set an example for the rest of the U.S. Maybe if they realize allowing gays to marry won't somehow cause the destruction of society, they'll be more willing to give them the right everywhere.
TheLeenie, that is so cool. And people say all lawyers are evil
19I've never understood how constitutionally any state can deny gay marriages. To use 'it's non-Christian' is breaking the constitution to have free religion rights in itself.
20Or they argue that it's a burden on society?
Glad they finally honored their rights.
I have heard many people say with straight faces that it's not an equal rights issue because gay people have every right to marry someone of the opposite sex if they want, just like straight people.
I actually just saw the blonde one from The View say it in this very awkward interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rnk8eja3TU
21Yay Connecticut! Now please everyone in CA, vote against Prop 8! Everyone should be equal in this country regardless of race, sex, or sexual preference!
22There is one "loop hole" coming up in the CT elections though, we have to vote NO to a constitutional convention. I just got an email from Planned Parenthood explaining their side, which I agree with.
From the PP email:
23The group pushing for the convention is a political organization dedicated to banning marriage for same sex couples and outlawing abortion. They will use the convention to take away people’s rights.
this makes me have faith in the world. no matter what your religion, its not up to you to say that people who are in love, whether they be straight or gay or anything else, cant get married. maybe its not for you, but that doesnt mean its not for someone else. its not right that a straight couple can have rights and benefits and a gay couple cant; and im glad CT is going in the right direction! tonight is the annual coming out ball in chicago, il...its on my campus this year - illinois institute of technology. im sure we'll be celebrating.
24Yay for progress on civil rights! I just pray that CA's prop 8 doesn't pass
25Yay, another enlightened state on board for civil rights! Incredible that this is still an issue in this country. No on Prop 8 in CA...glad to see that there are so many supporters of gay rights on this board!
26At the risk of being skewered, I just want to stand up & say that I wholeheartedly support Prop. 8 & I hope that it passes. I no longer live in CA so sadly I'm not registered to vote there anymore, but if it ever comes on the ballot in IN I know exactly how I'm voting.
People talk about this issue in terms of civil rights; I appreciate that. However, granting "equal rights" to homosexual couples is actually diminishing the rights of heterosexual parents, as you can see in this video about a MA father who was arrested just because he wanted to be notified when issues of same-sex marriage were addressed in his child's classroom: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1815820715?bctid=1822459...
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institutio...
http://isupportmarriage.com/
27At the risk of being skewered, I just want to stand up & say that I wholeheartedly support Prop. 8 & I hope that it passes. I'm unfortunately no longer registered to vote in CA, but if it ever comes up in IN I know exactly how I'm voting.
People talk about this issue in terms of civil rights; I can appreciate that. However, by granting so-called "equal rights" to homosexual couples, you're actually DIMINISHING the rights of heterosexual couples, as in the case of the MA father who was arrested just because he wanted to be notified when issues of same-sex marriage were taught in his child's classroom.
Unfortunately I can't post any links here, but if there are any CA voters out there who are still undecided on the issue, I encourage you to go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website & look at the article "In Support of Marriage." There are also lots of websites & great videos out in support of traditional marriage between a man & a woman. Please VOTE YES ON PROP. 8!
28(Sorry that posted twice; it didn't come up at first so I thought my comment was deleted because it had links in it & rewrote it. My apologies.)
29"granting so-called "equal rights" to homosexual couples, you're actually DIMINISHING the rights of heterosexual couples"
I really, really don't understand this
nor do I think an isolated case like the
one you're talking about (never heard of it, though) makes the case that gay marriage is across the board bad for hetero marriage. How would allowing gay couples to marry take anything away
from straight couples, besides maybe the feeling of moral superiority?
30ha! diminishing the rights of heteros. maybe we should get hetero and gay water fountains. or put all the heteros in one school so we wouldn't have to worry about talking about equal rights for all. or maybe the heteros can sit in the front of the room and get new books while the people associated with gay rights get bad seats in the back and old books.
point is- we can't revert back to segregation and that is what prop 8 and others are pushing for. its sad that people can't put their insane made up religious beliefs and their bigoted personal beliefs aside for the rights of others. yeah i said bigoted because they are bigoted beliefs with the shadow of 'protect us heteros' (who have a 50% divorce rate).
31I don't get that argument either. I mean with almost one-half of marriages ending in divorce anyway, it's not that sound of an institution without gay marriage supposedly bringing it down. How two people being married , whether they be a man and a woman, woman and a woman, or man and a man, can possibly have an effect on any marriage is beyond me. What is your reasoning for this? Marriage in the eyes of the States is not a religious act, you do not have to believe in god or have any religious affiliation to marry. That is the Church's role.
32Nicely put, Roarman. Yeah, no one is forcing churches, synagogues, mosques, and etc. to marry gay couples or anything like that.
33Oh, gosh.
34What it would take away is the right of religious parents to choose what morals to teach their children, as the case I cited above discusses. I am a taxpayer & a strong proponent of public education, but I also believe that gender is a God-given trait & that God defined marriage as between a man & a woman. I don't want to feel like I'd have to put my children in a private school or homeschool them because what's being taught in public schools goes against my family's morals.
35As a matter of fact, Jude C, one of the ramifications of Prop. 8 failing IS that churches, synagogues, mosques & etc. could be sued by gay couples for not wanting to marry them.
36You have every right to do so, but in my opinion schools are anyway not in place to teach religiously-based morals, only ethics that apply across the board, regardless of religion.
And you DO have the right to teach your children whatever morals you want, precisely because you have the right to put them in private school or homeschool them.
In addition, I believe it is the right of parents to pull their children out of classes they find objectionable. That one case you mentioned doesn't prove that parents don't have the right, only that one school perhaps didn't make a good judgment about parental notification.
(Sorry, can't watch the video at work, so I'm basing my response to it on what you've said.)
37"Could be sued" is not the same thing as "forced by the government," kittyhill. The mere fact that the case would have to go to court and a judge would have the option to decide the winner means that the religious organizations are not being forced. So my point still stands.
38I understand why kitty is concerned about her children being in school and hearing anything that is the opposite of what she teaches morally, but you cant police a public school like that, you would have to sit in the back of the room 24/7, its why there is private christian schools.
39Which means that it still is the parent's right to choose where their child goes to school/what morality the child learns.
40I saw the polls on Prop 8 yesterday and it was like 47% YES, 42% NO.
I hope this is not how it really turns out on Election Day.
41TheLeenie -- that is great! You and your co-workers should feel so proud.
I feel that sexual preference is the last frontier for equal rights. It is no longer legal to discriminate against someone based on gender or race, but people want to add discrimination to the constitution in order to ban gay marriage.
IMO, the laws aren't in existance to define morality. They are supposed to protect our individual freedoms, and keep one person's freedom from interfering with another's. I don't think that there is any point in defining marriage as one man/one woman. A gay marriage isn't going to interfere with anyone's life except those that are in the marriage.
42Exactly, juju.
And legalizing equal rights for gays isn't going to turn heteros gay, which is the only possible reason I can come up with that opponents of gay marriage feel it would threaten hetero unions.
43I have work to do, so I can't sit here & argue, but I just wanted to take the opportunity to stand up for something I believe very strongly in, because it seemed like only one side was being told here. I hope that voters in CA will take the time to review this very important issue & cast their vote in accordance with their own deep moral convictions, because this will affect everyone, man or woman, old or young, gay or straight.
44"this will affect everyone, man or woman, old or young, gay or straight."
I still really don't understand how, but I'll agree to disagree.
45as someone said before the laws are there to protect people against others crazy moralities. its a law and not a moral value.
46Yay for another step in the direction of civil rights!
I do not understand either how my sexual preference affects anyone but me. Nor do I understand how the government can tell me that I can't marry someone I love because she isn't a man. I don't understand how religion can be used to back that up. The government can't tell me what religion to practice, nor can it deny me rights based on religion. But it does anyway.
I feel very sad when I see people write about how this changes all those "morals" taught in schools. It's fine to believe what you believe, but there is no reason the school should teach that. And last I knew, tolerance and acceptance of others was a sign of morality, as opposed to prejudice and judgment.
Some people are born gay. That's just how it is. On top of that, loving someone is never wrong.
Recently, I read a blog post that rang extremely true for me: homosexuality is an acceptable prejudice, an acceptable discrimination, complete with presidential stamps of approval.
http://malindalo.com/blog/2008/10/02/news-flash-homophobia-is-still-tota...
I think about the day that will come when I won't have to hear about how my sexuality is somehow a choice, and when I can enjoy the same rights as other American citizens.
Anyway, I am very happy for Connecticut today. It put a smile on my face just reading the headline.
47"Amen" silverpenny.
48If you truly felt that by the passage of states recognizing the rights of gays to marry, your children would somehow be subjected to homeosexual rhetoric in schools, you would have the choice to homeschool or send them to a religious private school. But I think your fears are greatly unwarranted. It is no secret that gay people exist, or that they cohabitate and have families. Lots of children come from same sex homes. The states recognizing their right to marry is not creating gay unions, it is just supporting something that already exists. It seems to me you are trying to push your religious beliefs on the rest of us, and that is unconstitutional.
49I don't quite understand the correlation between this law being passed and school children. Why would this come up in the classroom for young children?
50In my children's case they have never discussed sexuality in school just sex education and I suppose if you felt that you didn't want your kids to learn about sex ed then they sit that class out.
(though 1 in 3 US women are pregnant before they're 20 so that's prob not a good idea)
Oh and congratulations Conneticut for an enlightened decision.
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