Connecticut became the third state in the nation to legalize gay “marriage” Oct. 10 when its Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated ruling declaring that homosexual couples are guaranteed the right to “marry” under the state constitution.
The 4–3 decision follows a similar one by the California Supreme Court in May and a landmark ruling by the Massachusetts high court in 2003. All three rulings involved one-vote margins.
The Connecticut court overruled a lower court decision that had upheld the state’s marriage laws.
The majority ruling covered 85 pages and was handed down more than a year after justices heard the case in May 2007.
“We recognize, as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did … that ‘our decision marks a change in the history of our marriage law,’” Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote for the court. “… Even though the right to marry is not enumerated in our constitution, it long has been deemed a basic civil right. … [O]ur conventional understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection.
“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 majority opinion ruled that civil unions — viewed by some who support them as common ground — are themselves discriminatory. (BP)
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