Gay Marriages Set for Wednesday in Connecticut

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Gay marriages set for Wednesday in Connecticut

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN – 6 hours ago

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut state Rep. Beth Bye and Tracey Wilson hope to become the first gay couple to marry legally in their town of West Hartford on Wednesday. For Wilson, it's both a personal and professional milestone. She's the town's historian. "She'd love to be the first one in town," joked Bye, who as a lawmaker helped to shepherd Connecticut's 2005 civil union law through the General Assembly. Bye and Wilson had a church ceremony with more than 150 guests to celebrate their civil union that year. On Wednesday, they plan to show up at town hall in street clothes, with their kids and a friend who is a justice of the peace to make it official. "I think for us, we really were married three years ago in our church," Bye said. "But it feels different that our state is saying, 'now you're married. You have the same rights as everyone else.'"

Superior Court Judge Jonathan Silbert has scheduled a hearing at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday in New Haven to enter the final judgment in the case that allows same-sex marriages in Connecticut. Once the hearing ends, couples can pick up marriage license forms at town and city clerk's offices.

It's unclear how many couples will get married. The state public health department says 2,032 civil union licenses were issued in Connecticut between October 2005 and July 2008.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Oct. 10 that same-sex couples have the right to wed rather than accept a civil union law. Only Connecticut and Massachusetts have legalized gay marriage.

The unions were legal in California until voters narrowly passed a ban last week. At least three lawsuits ask that state's Supreme Court to overturn the vote.
Constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage also passed last week in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. But in Connecticut, voters rejected the idea of a constitutional convention to amend the state's constitution, dealing a major blow to opponents of same-sex marriage.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZmLBrL36NObNyMR0ghXN7vB5hYwD94CVTV80

[TommyO]

1. Thank you CT for being better than the bigots in California

(with all due apologies to everybody who voted against Prop 8).

[Maat]

3. I was one of the Californians who not only voted against it,

but campaigned daily against it for months before the election. Yes, we have bigots, but at least 5 million of us voted against it, and many of the almost-voting youth supported the No-On-8 rallies. Plus, we are going to support the legal effort to get rid of it. Additionally, many of us will be at the ongoing marches. So, yes, there were several million bigots voting, but there were almost as many who did not (and who are not bigots). So, please keep that in mind.

I celebrate same-sex marriage in Connecticut.

There's a trend here, and bigots can't stop it.

[midnight]

2. Looks like Connecticut is going to have alot of great people

moving there.

[NutmegYankee]

4. It would be nice.

This state needs some people. Maybe we can convert the old mill towns to alternative energy manufacturers.

[nichomachus]

5. One difference between MA, CT and CA

Is that MA and CT don't have the mega-churches. I was born and raised in NE and always find my old friends there are mystified when I talk about the churches. They don't understand the concept of churches that hold thousand and thousands -- sometimes tens of thousands -- of people every Sunday. Those preachers can do a lot of damage. That's what killed us in CA.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

6. Are civil unions invalidated?

IOW, if a couple entered into a CU in CT, is it still valid or do they all have to go through a do-over and get married ?