One-Year Anniversary Of Same-Sex Marriage In Conn.

 By Susan Haigh

Associated Press

HARTFORD — Gay and lesbian couples marked the one-year anniversary of the day Connecticut began allowing same-sex marriages on November 12, voicing optimism that other states eventually will follow suit despite recent votes in Maine and California where gay marriage rights were shot down.

More than 150 people turned out for the celebration on the steps of the state Capitol.

“Connecticut has thrown open the doors of justice, and our state is now a beacon of fairness and inclusion,” said Carol Buckheit, executive director of Love Makes A Family, a group that helped to shepherd the gay marriage issue through the General Assembly for the past decade. The Connecticut Supreme Court, on a 4-3 decision, ruled on October 10, 2008, that same-sex couples have the right to wed in the state.

The legislature in April voted to update the state’s marriage laws to conform with the landmark court ruling. Governor M. Jodi Rell signed the language into law.

Buckheit urged couples at the celebration to push for the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and allow same-sex couples to receive more than 1,000 federal rights, benefits and protections that heterosexual married couples receive.

The anniversary of Connecticut’s law comes in the wake of this month’s referendum in Maine where a gay marriage law was defeated by voters and last year’s Proposition 8 campaign in California where court-ordered gay marriage was repealed.

Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, said the vote in Maine shows that New England residents do not support same-sex couples marrying, despite court rulings permitting it in some states. Gay marriage is legal in five states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Iowa.

“It’s impossible to view this anniversary apart from what just happened in state of Maine. What happened in Maine is huge. Our fellow New Englanders told the world what the majority think about same-sex marriage,” he said.

Wolfgang said proponents of gay marriage “will always be haunted by the knowledge they didn’t achieve a democratic victory here” in Connecticut.

But Sally Kaminski and Eve Bailey of Middletown, who married last December, disagree. The couple, who also own property in Maine, said it is appropriate for the courts to decide matters of human rights.

“Certain things I don’t think require a vote,” Bailey said.

“I think rights shouldn’t be a vote. Equal rights are guaranteed by the constitution, and people should have the right to be by her bedside if something happens, to own a home that you build together,” Kaminski added. “To put it to a popular vote, and a religious vote, I mean I think that’s always going to be iffy.”

The Department of Public Health reported 2,291 same-sex marriages filed with the agency between November 12, 2008, and August 31, 2009. More than half were for out-of-state couples.

During the same period, there were 13,868 heterosexual marriages.