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| A lawsuit filed on behalf of seven same-sex couples denied marriage licenses in
Connecticut, including J.E. Martin and Denise Howard,
is expected to work its way through the state courts.
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: MIKE LAVERS COMMENTS
 
With the new session of the Connecticut Legislature opening this week, lawmakers
will spar once again over the contentious issue of whether to follow neighboring
Massachusetts and become the second U.S. state to legalize marriage for same-sex
couples. While some observers suggest that full marriage remains a long shot,
state lawmakers are expected to back civil unions during the session.
Voters in 11 states overwhelmingly passed constitutional amendments banning
marriage rights for same-sex couples on Election Day, but local politicians
such as state Rep. Michael Lawlor (D-East Haven) remain optimistic that Connecticut
lawmakers will buck that trend.
Lawlor, a proponent of same-sex marriage, told the Hartford Courant earlier
this month that November’s election results, which favored Democrats in
Connecticut, are an indication that a majority of lawmakers would support civil
unions. Civil unions, Lawlor argued, constitute a step toward eventual marriage
rights for same-sex couples.
“Based on the election results in Connecticut, it seems as though, at
a minimum, the legislature could support some type of civil union bill,”
he said. “I support marriage, and I think that’s where we’ll
end up.”
House Majority Leader James A. Amann (D-Milford) is another prominent Connecticut
lawmaker who has come out in support of legislation that would extend civil
unions to same-sex couples. But Amann, unlike Lawlor, said he does not support
marriage for same-sex couples.
“I’m open to civil unions and other protections that just make
sense,” Amann said to the Courant. “I anticipate we’ll have
a debate on it this year.”
Some lawmakers on the other side of the aisle have also indicated that they
would support legislation to allow same-sex couples in Connecticut to enter
into civil unions.
House Minority Leader Robert M. Ward (R-North Branford) told the Courant that
he feels many of his colleagues in the GOP would follow his lead and support
such a bill. Despite this support, Ward conceded that any legislation seeking
marriage for same-sex couples in Connecticut would prove a tough sell to lawmakers
and the public alike.
A survey conducted by the University of Connecticut last April indicated that
the majority of Connecticut residents support civil unions for same-sex couples.
Of those who responded, 74 percent said that they would support legislation
that would allow same-sex couples to enter into a civil union. Forty-nine percent
of respondents indicated that they support marriage rights for same-sex couples.
And 53 percent said they would oppose any bill that would seek to define marriage
as between a man and a woman.
Despite the results of the UConn survey, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell has continued
to oppose marriage for same-sex couples. And in an interview with the New Haven
Register last month, she again expressed her support of marriage between a man
and a woman.
“I’m an old-fashioned person when it comes to that,” Rell
said.
During the interview, Rell, who took office last July after former Gov. John
Rowland resigned in disgrace because of investigations into payoffs and other
scandals, questioned the need for civil unions. She concluded that the state
of Connecticut already allows same-sex couples to adopt children and to visit
each other in the hospital.
“I think we have gone a long way in changing the statutes to address
these concerns,” Rell said.
While Rell continues to question the necessity of civil unions for same-sex
couples in Connecticut, many gay activists have charged that civil unions do
not extend equality to same-sex couples.
Anne Stanback, president of Love Makes a Family of Connecticut, a Hartford-based
gay advocacy group that supports marriage rights for same-sex couples, has repeatedly
called for legislation that provides same-sex couples the opportunity to marry.
Citing the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s decision in Nov. 2003 that allowed
same-sex couples to get married in the Bay State, Stanback said that anything
other than marriage is unacceptable.
“As we have always said, marriage is the goal,” she said. “Civil
unions are not equal and do not provide all the protections of marriage. And
it is a step backwards in light of the progress that has been made in Massachusetts.”
As Stanback and Love Makes a Family of Connecticut continue to lobby lawmakers
to support marriage rights for same-sex couples, groups such as the Connecticut
Catholic Conference, a public policy group that speaks on ...
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