Gay Couples Challenge
Conn. Marriage Laws
By CARA RUBINSKY, AP
from washingtonpost.com March 22, 2006
NEW HAVEN, Conn. Mar.21 -- A
lawyer for eight gay couples argued in court Tuesday that Connecticut's marriage
laws illegally create a separate class of people based on sexual orientation.
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A group of
people arrive at Superior Court in New Haven, Conn., Tuesday, March
21, 2006, who identified themselves as coming to court to hear
arguments seeking an end to marriage discrimination against same-sex
couples in Connecticut. (AP Photo/Bob Child) |
The couples, with the help of the Gay
and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, sued in 2004 in an attempt to overturn the
state's ban on gay marriage.
Last year, Connecticut approved civil unions for gay couples, which gives them
the same legal rights as heterosexual married couples, but that law also defined
marriage as existing only between a man and a woman.
That law "is nothing less than the government's announcement that these are
second-class citizens," Ben Klein, a senior attorney for Gay and Lesbian
Advocates and Defenders, told Superior Court Judge Patty Jenkins Pittman.
GLAD used a similar argument in Massachusetts, where gay marriage became legal
after a 2003 state Supreme Judicial Court ruling, and similar lawsuits are
pending in other states. In January, a Baltimore judge ruled that a law
against gay marriage violates the Maryland Constitution's guarantee of equal
rights.
Connecticut Assistant Attorney General Jane Rosenberg defended the laws Tuesday,
arguing that there is no fundamental right to marry.
She said it was reasonable for the state to create civil unions to give gay
couples the legal rights of marriage while also dealing with administrative
issues, such as federal Medicaid and Medicare programs, which do not recognize
gay marriage.
Pittman asked Rosenberg if Connecticut's law preventing same-sex couples from
marrying is any different from a Virginia law that prevented interracial couples
from marrying until it was declared unconstitutional.
Rosenberg responded that race is not an essential part of marriage but gender
is.
The judge did not immediately rule.
Jeffrey Busch of Wilton attended Tuesday's hearing with partner Stephen Davis
and son Elijah.
"I'm pretty hopeful and optimistic," he said. "Connecticut has done so
much to allow us to be a family. I believe the courts will correct this
injustice of not allowing us to marry."
The Family Institute of Connecticut, which opposes gay marriage, has asked to
intervene in the case, claiming the state attorney general's office is not
vigorously defending Connecticut's marriage laws. The state Supreme Court
has not yet ruled on whether that group may become part of the case.
Elsewhere Tuesday, the New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly to defeat a
proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
The vote was 207-125. The amendment would have defined marriage as a union
of one woman and one man.
The vote halted this year's campaign for a constitutional ban of same-sex unions
in the state.
(Emphasis Added)
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