RSSConnecticut Becomes the Latest State to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
Oct 10
Politics and Nation, Relationships, Society and Culture gay marriage, Kerrigan v. the state Commissioner of Public Health Comments Off
Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled today to legalize same-sex marriage in that state, joining neighboring Massachusetts and distant California. The state has an existing civil unions law, but eight couples sued on the basis that the law was inherently discriminatory and set up inequality for a minority group. Four of Connecticut’s seven supreme court justices agreed with that argument, stating that the state of Connecticut “failed to establish adequate reason to justify the statutory ban on same sex marriage.”
To give Connecticut its due, it was the first state to enact civil unions on its own, without a court-order, but stopped shy of recognizing full marriage rights. So far, all three states that have legalized gay marriage have done so through the court system and not through legislation. In Massachusetts counter-legislation has failed abysmally on a number of occasions, affirming legislators’ tacit support.
A full copy of the decision is available here (Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health).
