By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
On Nov. 12, Connecticut officially became the second state in the union where same sex couples can “marry.”
According to a report appearing on LifeSiteNews.com, voters were given an opportunity to reverse an Oct. 10 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court to allow homosexual couples to “marry” by calling for a constitutional convention to amend the state’s constitution. Voters chose not to do so.
Therefore, the Supreme Court decision stands and allows same sex marriages to take place beginning Nov. 12.
The decision to allow same sex marriage was the result of a law suit brought by eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by a Connecticut town clerk. In Kerrigan v. the state Commissioner of Public Health, the couples argued that the state’s civil union law was discriminatory and unconstitutional because it established a separate and therefore inherently unequal institution for a minority group.
Citing equal protection under the law, the state Supreme Court agreed.
“In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry,” said the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Richard N. Palmer.
The Connecticut Catholic Conference (CCC) has been an outspoken opponent of the decision, saying that it “is in direct conflict with the position of our state legislature and courts of other states and is a terribly regrettable exercise in judicial activism. . . . Four people have not just extended a supposed civil right to a particular class of individuals, but have chosen to redefine the institution of marriage.”
In a classic example of what happens when good people do nothing, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell (R) said that although she disagreed with the ruling along with most of the state’s residents, she would not fight it.
“I am firmly convinced that attempts to reverse this decision — either legislatively or by amending the state constitution — will not meet with success,” she told the press last month.
Opponents of the new law are not ready to concede, however. Peter Wolfgang, executive director of The Family Institute of Connecticut, vowed to press on with an uphill battle to protect marriage in his state.
“Unlike California, we did not have a remedy,” Wolfgang said. The Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex “marriage” “must be overturned with patience, determination and fortitude.”
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