CT Couples Still Waiting for Marriage Equality

May 17, 2008

Hartford, CT—One year ago this week the Connecticut Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving 8 same-sex couples seeking the right to marry.

The court reserved judgment in the case, and for the past 12 months gay and lesbian couples in the state have been waiting for a ruling, having to make do with civil unions that most LGBT advocates say are insufficient.

Unlike California, where the state Supreme Court has a deadline of 90 days to deliver a ruling following oral arguments, there is no similar requirement on the Connecticut.

The Connecticut couples seeking the right to marry are represented by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based legal group that won same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

In arguments before the high court last year, GLAD attorney Bennett Klein told the court that civil unions create a separate but equal situation in which same-sex couples become second class citizens.

What the state calls something does matter, attorney Bennett Klein said.

The only possible reason that the legislature denied marriage here and created a separate institution just for one minority group was because they thought marriage meant something.

Klein argued that denying same-sex couples access to marriage violates the state constitution in two ways: under the equal protection provision and the clause guaranteeing due process.

The state Attorney General's staff argued that the landmark civil-union statute is sufficient. The Attorney General's lawyer told the court that the rights and benefits same-sex couples have are identical to those opposite-sex couples have in the state.

The court has given no indication why it is delaying a ruling. Some LGBT advocates believe the justices want to legalize gay marriage but have been reluctant to make Connecticut the second state after Massachusetts to strike down bans on same-sex marriages. The ruling in California on Thursday now will make that easier they argue.

In March gay and lesbian couples told state lawmakers that civil unions are not working and they provided evidence that the intentions of the law are not being followed.

Civil unions became legal in Connecticut in 2005. The law accords same-sex couples most of the rights and obligations Connecticut gives married couples. But after more than two years since the law was passed many businesses, hospitals and government agencies still do not recognize them.

The legislature's Judiciary Committee held hearings and was told bluntly that the only thing that would work is to amend the law to provide for full marriage

Nevertheless, state lawmakers appear reluctant to pass marriage equalization legislation.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.stephenhyland.com/blawg/mt/mt-tb.cgi/182