Gay Marriage In Connecticut? Yes You Can

Apparently while California has banned them, in Connecticut:

A 4-year legal battle for same-sex marriage came to an end this morning in a New Haven courtroom when Superior Court Judge Jonathan E. Silbert signed an order paving the way to couples to get their licenses.

The state Supreme Court last month, in a 4-3 decision, ruled that preventing gay and lesbian couples from marrying violates the state constitution. Today’s brief hearing was a formality that was needed before gay couples could start receiving marriage licenses.

source: Courant, Judge Clears Way For Same-Sex Marriages, BY DANIELA ALTIMARI, November 12, 200

  • Finally

    No more separate but equal! You would think the 70 percent of blacks who voted in CA for the gay marriage ban would know what “separate but equal” means. They must have a short memory for injustice. And when they say its in the bible, that makes me laugh. The bible also says slavery is OK, and wives are their husbands property. Yet we ignore those obsolete passages. And Jesus never once mentions homosexuality.

    As far as gay marriage harming straight marriages, its funny that Mass. has the lowest divorce rate in the country, and has had gay marriage for 4 years.

    Thank God CT is moving forward on this issue.

  • Mary Pugh

    I was honored today to perform a same sex marriage for a couple in Fairfield (I officiated at their civil union earlier in the year.)

    So, if any of my civil union couples are reading this…contact me if you want to be upgraded to a marriage. No charge if you come to Norwalk. A small charge if you want me to come to another town (depends on the distance).

    I am also considering officiating for couples for free….on a few Saturday mornings…. so if anyone is interested in that, let me know.

    :-)

    Mary
    ct-jp.com

  • Anonymous

    Shame on CT

  • bake

    Rell should market CT to gay couples in the city to help with the budget deficit.

  • Rabbi Joshua of CA

    Misnomers, fear and the power of prayer brought discrimination into the Golden State. That, and using religion as a bludgeon on the very system meant to protect us from fanaticism. As a religious leader who opposed Prop. 8, I am feeling a level of sadness that I have not experienced in some time. On the very night that America overcame a huge skeleton in our closet, electing an African American to the presidency, the people of California, by a slim margin, chose to etch discrimination into our state’s legal code. We have the right to disagree, attend different houses of worship and hold different theologies. And while this is really about human rights, equal rights, and legal rights, I want to share a few thoughts on why this is also about a faulty interpretation of religion.

    With the passing of Prop. 8, we have officially segregated gays and lesbians into a second-class closet, a closet that nobody deserves to be in. And for what? For a fanatical, literal reading of the Bible that was never meant to be read that way. In the Jewish tradition, we have always operated with the help of the Talmud and commentaries that sought to interpret the text, explain problematic passages, and in some cases, say that the Bible doesn’t mean fo r us to act on what it actually says. Deuteronomy teaches that we should kill a wayward child, teaching this in a text that is much clearer and more direct than the verse in Leviticus on homosexuality. The rabbis of the Talmud said that this never happened and never should happen. We no longer stone non-virgin wives to death or those who violate the Sabbath, as the Bible prescribes. And yet, in this one issue, on this one verse, Leviticus 18:22, which modern scholars and rabbis like Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Conservative Rabbi Elliot Dorff have shown to be much more nuanced and obtuse than a literal reading allows, we continue to legislate discrimination and hate. There are those who supported Proposition 8 that say it is not about discrimination or hate; I defy them to make that case honestly to the face of a loved one who is gay.

    Religion has a long history of both alienation and inclusion; in any given era, we have the opportunity to choose which road this history will follow. Religion has helped to promote hatred of “the other” and has helped to teach peace and love of our fellow human. Dr. King sought to bring love into the world and he fought many setbacks in his quest. Those of us who believe in religious inclusion will continue to fight for the rights of gays and lesbians to become equal and full members of our society. Pope John Paul II helped to usher in a new era of relations between Catholics and Jews, a relationship that had been strained by the nightmares of the Holocaust and church sanctioned anti-Semitism. We religious leaders who stand with our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, leaders from a broad interfaith coalition, will continue to preach a gospel of love, a Torah of inclusion and work for a society of equality.

    Our country finally overcame a huge hurdle in our battle against racism with the election of Barack Obama. In no way will it cause racism to disappear, for sure, but it certainly will lead us further down that path than ever before. And so, in the darkness of this moment for my gay and lesbian friends and family, I live with the flicker of hope that one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, we too will overcome this discrimination as well. With all of the challenges we face in our world, from war to poverty, disease to lack of education, I find it sad and somewhat hard to believe that so many people prayed with all their hearts for this proposition to pass. Marriage is a good thing and people in love should be able to express that in full faith, straight or gay. I believe in a God of love, a God of kindness and a God of equality. I believe in a God that supports human rights and civil rights for all. Sadly, in the name of religious fanaticism and moral absolutism, a huge part of that God was ushered out of California. But, as our people knows well: exile is never forever.

  • Anonymous

    Oh puh-leez. The FACT is, the people don’t want gay marriage in California, Arizona, or anywhere else for that matter; and the vote proves it. I have no idea what is wrong with Connecticut voters, but they certainly showed their stupidity this time around.

    I fervently hope that within the next 4 years of the new administration this question is finally put on a national ballot so EVERYONE can have a say.

    As far as we all should be concerned, the will of the people is the final word. And the people have spoken.

    NO gay marriage.

  • Anonymous

    #6: Since when do we vote about human rights? Would you also like to have a review of the Bill of Rights? Maybe we don’t need some of those pesky rights that seem to get in the way of your conservative agenda.

    This is all about what you view as “normal,” and you fail to recognize that the norm is what most people do, not what everyone ought to do. Gay marriage in no way infringes upon your life, so leave it alone.

  • Anonymous

    #6-Not sure what your problem is but where do you get your high and mighty attitude from? What do you have against gays? Do they come to your house and push you to become gay? Do they infringe on your life whatsoever? I’ll bet you have friends who are gay and don’t even know it. Even better, I’ll bet you have friends that are gay and wouldn’t have the B*lls to say anything to their face so you come on a public blog and say what you want under annonymous. Are you afraid that your kids will be gay if they are in the company of gays? A little piece of news for you, I am quite sure that not one of the gay people in the world all of a sudden woke up one day and said “Hey, I think I want to be gay” it doesn’t work that way. They are born this way and if you are as you seem to be, a God fearing individual you might want to take into account that as the bible teaches, God created us all so therefore God made gays as well. Where did you get the misconcieved notion that only straights have rights? You got it from a book that was written by man, it is called the bible my friend and in there it teaches the beliefs of those who wrote it. I have never once seen God’s name as one of the authors. Funny though that in that same bible they speak of kings and emperors who owned unics. So why was it ok for them to mangle and mutilate young boys for their own pleasures and it is not ok in this day and age to be gay? Yours and others backward thinking is the reason we have so much hatred in this world. You have every right to your beliefs and I certainly hope you do not have a circumstance with one of your family members that would make you treat them any differently than you do now.

  • Anonymous

    Waaaah waaaah waaaaah!!!!

    Oh, and please learn to spell. The word, my friend, is “eunich”, not “unic”.

    Gay moron.

  • Norwalker

    #6 and #8 go f$ck yourselves. Afraid your college experiences of you on your knees will come out and ruin your ‘so called’ marriages? What have gay people ever done to you? How about we gay folk no longer pay to support the educating of your children???? Ready to have you taxes raise str8ty??? God knows we all make more than you as we’re educated, driven and successful.

    I assume your against Obama too? The world is about change. Move on, or move out.

  • Anonymous

    #10-what the hell are you talking about? #8 was defending gay rights and you tell them to go f*ck themselves? you cetainly confuse this reader

  • Anonymous

    #9 – It’s spelled “eunuch”, dipshit.

  • Anonymous

    Gee #9, is that all you got out of that entire posting was a misspelled word? Guess you read with blinders on.

  • Anonymous

    #13, is that all you got out of my posting? Guess you read with your head up your ass.

    If there was anything to get out of it besides the obvious hypocrisy in castigating someone for misspelling a word that he can’t even spell, then I might have had something else to say.

  • yoyoyo

    discrimination is “allegedly” over with blacks, but americans have to pick another group to alienate–so they did. misinformation, ignorance and self-loathing got CA to not go with gay marriage…CT–got it right. anyone who is SOOOOO angry and against gays either needs to go for a long run and “get it out” , needs to expand social circles, make an appt with oprah or just look in the mirror. CT–happy day.:)

  • Anonymous

    Gays are mentally deficient. That’s why they’re gay.

  • Anonymous

    Let’s get something straight, the passage of the gay marriage law in CT was NOT made by the voters of this state. It was made For Us by the state supreme court as a result of a lawsuit from a radical gay. It will be overturned just like California.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, and we normal citizens of Connecticut simply can’t wait for it to happen, either.

  • Anonymous

    #16: Your intellect is so limited that you don’t know how stupid you sound.

  • Anonymous

    Gee, did I hit a sore spot??? Ooopth, I’m tho thorry.

    Run away, sick and powerless little gay person. Your psychiatrist is calling you.

  • Anonymous

    #20: But I’m not a gay person. The difference between you and me (one of many differences, I’m sure) is that I’m not a moron.

  • Anonymous

    No, you’re an ignoramus.

  • Anonymous

    Interesting article in today’s Advocate:

    Expert: Gays should marry while they can
    By Frank MacEachern Staff Writer

    NORWALK – Even though same-sex marriages in Connecticut became legal Wednesday, a city justice of the peace said she’s telling same-sex couples who have civil unions to move fast to get married.

    “I’m telling all my couples to get married as quickly as possible, because you never know what may happen,” Mary Pugh said. “There is nothing in our lives that can’t be changed.”

    In California, voters banned same-sex marriages in a Nov. 4 referendum. The state had allowed same-sex marriages after the state Supreme Court overturned a ban in a May decision.

    Only Massachusetts and Connecticut now allow same-sex marriages.

    Couples across the state Wednesday flocked to town halls to get their marriage licenses after the ruling.

    Same-sex marriages will be front and center at a state conference today in Norwalk, where state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will speak.

    The Fourth Annual Conference of Connecticut JPs will be held this morning at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center. About 35 justices of the peace have registered, said Barbara Jay of Westport, national vice president of the Justices of the Peace Association.

    Her husband, Saul Haffner, is the association’s president. It represents about 500 justices of the peace in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Louisiana, Texas and South Carolina.

    He said justices of the peace cannot refuse to marry same-sex couples because it would be discriminatory.

    “They have an obligation as state officers to follow the law,” Haffner said. He said he has heard little from people opposed to same-sex marriage.

    Though Jay said justices of the peace cannot refuse to perform same-sex marriages, she said they may be able to avoid the issue by telling couples they aren’t available.

    “You can’t say I won’t marry (gay couples), but they could say they won’t be available that day,” she said. But Jay said she has heard little opposition to performing same-sex marriages.

    The future of civil unions remains cloudy, said Andrew Garfunkel, Norwalk’s town clerk.

    He said they still can be performed, but now they can’t be “rolled over” and considered marriages.

    “That’s something the (state) legislature is going to have to resolve when it meets in January,” he said. Garfunkel will speak at the conference.

    Blumenthal said couples who entered into civil unions “need not dissolve their civil unions,” but they are not considered marriages.

    Pugh estimated she’s conducted about 100 civil unions since 2005. She said she will perform the marriage ceremony for free for couples she “unionized” in the last three years.

  • Anonymous

    Interesting article in today’s Advocate:

    Blumenthal: Same-sex marriage ruling will stand
    By John Nickerson

    NORWALK – Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told an audience of nearly 40 justices of the peace yesterday he does not expect the recent state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriages to be overturned.

    At the fourth annual Conference of Connecticut JPs at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center, Blumenthal said he does not foresee the state constitution being amended to ban gay marriages. Not only would the state legislature need a two-thirds majority for the change and a statewide public vote held to ratify a ban, such an amendment would involve rewriting the constitution’s equal protection clause, Blumenthal said.

    In its 4-3 decision to allow same-sex marriages, the Supreme Court held that the state’s civil union laws violated the constitution’s equal protection clause, which guarantees that no person shall be denied equal protection of the law, Blumenthal said.

    A majority of Connecticut residents accept the ruling, Blumenthal said.

    Blumenthal said he would not take a personal stand on the Supreme Court decision.

    “My job is to enforce the law. I’m not pro or con. I have feelings like anyone else, but I have never articulated them in any public gathering,” he said. “We are going to obey the law and we are going to enforce it.”

    Blumenthal also addressed the personal beliefs of the justices of the peace by saying he knew that during their careers they have told people they are “unavailable” to perform wedding ceremonies.

    They may have been unavailable because they didn’t like the parents of those getting married or thought the bride and groom were too young to wed, he said.

    But he said declining to marry someone because a justice of the peace objects to same-sex marriages is against the law.

    “You cannot refuse to marry any couple for discriminatory reasons, because they are a same-sex couple, any more than you can refuse because they are Catholic or white or blacks. And the reason is, you folks are public officials,” Blumenthal said.

    Calling the justices of the peace “positive and constructive” on the same-sex marriage issue, Blumenthal said he knew that some have been quoted saying they would not perform the ceremony.

    “But if there are those folks out there, I haven’t found them,” he said.

    Norwalk Justice of the Peace Joseph Tamburri said, “I agree with it if it is the law. We should not discriminate and I don’t think the justices of the peace in Connecticut do discriminate. I’m very open-minded.”

    New Canaan Justice of the Peace Elise Klein, who spoke to the group about confronting discomfort in JP weddings, said she used to tell people that if they weren’t comfortable doing civil union ceremonies, they should advise the couple to find someone else to marry them.

    With that option barred by law, Klein suggested talking to the couples about the language of their vows.

    Of the 37 justices of the peace in attendance, eight raised hands when Klein asked how many have performed civil unions since the law was enacted in October 2005.

    No hands went up when she asked if any had yet performed a same-sex marriage, though Klein said she performed New Canaan’s first one Friday.

  • Anonymous

    I bet they thought “it would stand” in California too, and look what happened there.

    Never say never.

  • Believes in Str8 marriage

    I don’t discriminate against the individual. I just really disagree with gay marriage it’s a sin, along with lusting, lying, and anything else that is against God’s word.

  • Anonymous

    #26: While I disagree with your belief, I do believe that if you don’t discriminate against the individual (i.e., you “hate the sin, but not the sinner,” so to speak), you are a good person.

  • Sarah

    It’s really funny that everyone who seems to be “against” gay marriage doesn’t have enough confidence to put up their name – they have to stay anonymous. I am not a gay person, but I attended a gay wedding just yesterday and I have never seen a couple so much in love. All of the trials and tribulations that they have had to go through just to be together has made them that much stronger. It’s ridiculous for people in this country to still be treating any type of people as second class citizens. This country was founded on the belief that everyone is created equal – everyone has their own relationship with God and I truly believe that only in the end, it will matter to just you. Please stop judging people and let them live their own lives. Is it honestly hurting you? Glad to see CT finally making strides!

  • Murgatroyd

    What a disgusting post. And yes, Frank Murgatroyd is my name.

  • Sarah

    I feel sorry for you Frank. May God bless you!

  • Murgatroyd

    I feel sorry for you too. You’re gay. And God already blesses me, I don’t need your intervention.

  • Legal

    Let’s legalize everything: Gay marriages, Prostitution, Heroin, Crack, Cocaine, you name it, let’s legalize it. You know why? If you legalize it, no one will want it anymore. It’s like “regular” marriage. People get married and then they start to complain about their spouses. Liquor was banned and people wanted it. You coudn’t gamble, now you could. Whatever’s out of reach, you want it.

    Let them get married and leave them alone!

  • Anonymous

    I feel sorry for Murgatroyd. What an asshole.

  • Anonymous

    Murgatroyd, the sadness about you is that you need blessing, but you don’t know it.

  • Legal

    Leave Murgatroyd alone. He’s pulling your chain. If everything were legal then this discussion wouldn’t be happening.

    Everyone could go on their merry way.

    Heavens to Murgatroyd!

  • Sarah

    Thank you Legal! And if calling me gay is supposed to be an insult, you are sadly mistaken Murgatroyd. And if you are so against gay marriage, why are you even on this site wasting your time?

  • Anonymous

    I agree with you, Sarah. Calling someone gay is an insult largely to adolescent or adolescent-minded people.

  • Legal

    Did you ever notice the people who are talking so much about gay people are the ones who are the most curious about it and think about the worst things? I knew a woman who was a lesbian. We worked together and when she told me that she was gay, I asked her SO many questions and she was very comfortabe answering my questions. She was honest, comfortable with her sexuality and wanted people to be comfortable with her and where she was. I miss working with her. Her being gay didn’t define who she was. She was a person, a great co-worker and friend. I’m straight. Do people focus on me being straight? No. They focus on who I am, what I do. Not my sexuality. We think of gay people and we immediately think of something perverse and dirty. Don’t go there. That’s not nice. I didn’t look at my co-worker that way. I would never look at a gay person that way. They don’t look at straight people that way.

    We have to just be nice.

  • Newly Married Lesbian

    Thank you to those who support gay marriage. Homosexual people are no different than anyone else. Yes, even you Murgatroyd (LOL at Legal, by the way) – even you are NO different than any other gay person. Would you like to know why? Your blood is blue in your veins, and red when it hits oxygen. Your lungs breathe the same air as the gay person who may or may not be sitting next to you. Your fore-fathers wrote the same words as mine – “We the People” – not “We the straight people” or even “We the gay people”. We are people. We are Americans. We are firefighters, police officers, nurses, doctors, lawyers. We are the people who protect you, heal you, keep you safe – so why should we not be treated equally? You are fighting a losing battle Murgatroyd – a battle of ignorance, discrimination, and disgrace. Your behavior, and the behavior of those against treating their fellow man as equals, is nothing short of disgraceful. You should be ashamed of yourself. I know I’m ashamed I have to share my air supply with the likes of you…and I don’t care if you’re gay or straight, you’re still an idiot.

  • Legal

    Why LOL at me? I’m supporting you, #39. Murgatroyd hasn’t posted on here in a while. I think everyone has scared him away. You know, I’m happy for you. Congratulations.
    ut what did I say to get the LOL? Oh, pray tell….

  • Newly Married Lesbian

    Legal – the Heaven’s to Murgatroyd comment. The first time I saw his first post, that’s the first thing that came to mind. And how ironic – that phrase coming from a gay cartoon cat ;)