Nov 07, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

Gay couples and officials in Connecticut are making preparations for the arrival of same-sex marriage in the state next week, but the availability of gay nuptials is expected to be a more low-key affair than when same-sex marriage came to California.

Officials expect that the smaller population of Connecticut means the state is home to fewer gay couples who would opt to get married. Connecticut also will be competing with Massachusetts to draw out-of-state couples to get married.

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Oct. 10 that the state must allow gay couples to marry. Such marriages can begin Nov. 12.

Connecticut is the third state, after Massachusetts and California, to legalize same-sex marriage. New York recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states, but does not issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Same-sex marriage supporters were buoyed Tuesday when Connecticut voters decided to reject a measure that would have led to a state constitutional convention.

The convention could have stripped marriage rights from the state constitution or instituted a referendum process that would have allowed voters to eliminate gay nuptials.

The state’s public health department has redesigned the marriage applications to reflect the upcoming availability of gay nuptials. While the old licenses had a space for one name under “bride” and another under “groom,” the new licenses will have boxes where applicants can select “bride,” “groom” or “spouse.”

Richard Blumenthal, the state attorney general, issued an opinion Oct. 28 that justices of the peace could not opt out of performing marriage ceremonies for gay couples. Justices of the peace in Connecticut have the option of not performing civil unions for gay couples.

At least one official was not expecting more activity at Connecticut’s town halls, which will issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Renee Capolla, registrar of vital statistics in New Haven, said her office hasn’t received many phone calls regarding marriage licenses for gay couples.

She noted that her office isn’t planning any extended hours for when same-sex marriage becomes available and wouldn’t have the capability to do so because her staff has been cut.

“It’s just going to be the staff that we have here everyday, and that’s it,” she said.

Capolla said she is not expecting an increase in activity because there was not much of an additional demand when civil unions first became available in Connecticut.

She said she was overstaffed on the day the state began to offer civil unions.

“We had a full staff here and we only issued 10 that day,” she said.

But Dan Carey, city clerk for Hartford, said his office is considering some additional hours on Saturday once gay nuptials become available.

“We have an operation in place, it’s just a matter of getting the proper documentation from the state at this point,” he said.

He said he expects the demand for same-sex marriage to be greater than the demand for civil unions because civil unions are only available to state residents.

M.V. Lee Badgett, a research director for the Williams Institute, a think-tank for sexual orientation law at the University of California in Los Angeles, said there are about 9,400 gay couples in Connecticut and that about 4,600 of those couples would marry in the next three years.

The 4,600 estimate is significantly smaller than the number expected for California, where the Williams Institute in June predicted that 51,320 couples would marry in the next three years.

Still, the 4,600 estimate is significantly larger than the number of gay couples in civil unions in Connecticut. The state has issued 2,032 civil unions between October 2005 and July 2008.

Badgett said she thinks many gay couples in Connecticut are boycotting civil unions and waiting for the availability of marriage.

“People have been waiting for marriage to come along and so we will really see a big jump in the first year,” she said.

Badgett said Connecticut will be competing with Massachusetts to bring out-of-state couples to marry there, and most of those couples would come from New York.

The Williams Institute earlier predicted that same-sex marriage would provide a boost of $111 million to the Massachusetts economy and create about 300 new jobs for the state. Badgett said Connecticut would compete for a portion of those economic benefits.

Some gay couples in Connecticut are planning to marry as soon as it becomes available in the state, but are holding off on larger celebrations.

Beth Kerrigan, who with her partner Jody Mock was the lead plaintiff in the case that brought same-sex marriage to Connecticut, said she and Mock, her partner of 13 years, plan to go to the West Hartford town hall to marry this month and ...