The Connecticut Supreme Court announced
today that gay couples have the right to marry, the announcement came
just five months after the California Supreme Court concluded the
same.
Connecticut stands poised to become
only the third state in the United States, after California and
Massachusetts, to allow gay marriage.
“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,” the justices wrote. “To decide
otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional
principles to gay persons and another to all others.”
“[S]ame sex couples cannot be denied
the freedom to marry.”
Connecticut enacted civil unions for
gay couples in 2005. And in 2007 the state legislature introduced a
bill that would allow gay marriage in the state, but failed to vote
on it.
Eight gay couples sued the state,
claiming their constitutional rights to equal protection were
violated when they were denied marriage licenses in 2004, before
civil unions were enacted. But in 2006, a Superior Court judged
ruled against them arguing that civil unions offered equal benefits,
protections and responsibilities under the law.
Today the Supreme Court of Connecticut
in a 4-3 decision in Kerrigan and Mock V. Connecticut Department
of Public Health disagreed, saying the right to marry was a
constitutional right that could not be denied.
“Today, Connecticut couples have won
an essential victory in the struggle for basic legal rights and the
dignity of all people,” Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays (PFLAG) Executive Director Jody Huckaby said. “Tomorrow,
and every day after that, all of us at PFLAG will remain vigilant in
ensuring that those rights are never denied again and never taken
away from those we love. Equality is moving forward, slowly but
surely, in state after state. None of us must rest, however, until
every state recognizes the rights of every citizen.”
A 2PM press conference/rally today in
Hartford will discuss the court's ruling.