Same Sex Marriage Victory in Connecticut
October 10th, 2008
By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
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The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, reversing a lower court decision that had concluded that the civil unions legalized in the state three years ago offered the same rights and benefits as marriage.
With the 4-to-3 ruling, Connecticut becomes the third state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. California legalized gay marriage in May 2008, and Massachusetts in 2004.
The justices noted in the majority opinion that they recognized “as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health … that ‘our decision marks a change in the history of our marriage law.’ ”
The case, Kerrigan v. the state Commissioner of Public Health, was brought by eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by the Madison town clerk. They 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.
The decision is here (pdf).
Here’s the short version from my good friend Dan Krisch, whose firm, Horton, Shields & Knox, represented 8 same sex couples who sought the radical right to be treated just like everyone else:
The basics (there are 3 separate dissents and an 85-page majority, so I’m cutting to the chase): Sexual orientation is a quasi-suspect class under the EP Clauses of our state constitution; denying same-sex couples the right to marry doesn’t survive the heightened scrutiny that comes w/quasi-suspect classification.I admit to feeling a bit sentimental about the opinion, one for the merits, two for having clerked for CT SCT Justice Joette Katz after law school. Justice Katz joined a concurring opinion written by Justice Norcotte that explains precisely why civil unions just don’t cut it [READ ON].
Given that we are less than a month away from national elections, the biggest question about this decision is what impact, if any, it will have politically. Ironically, the court heard oral arguments more than a year ago, in the spring of 2007. The delay in reaching a decision had become something of a joke among lawyers. But it looks to me like the CT justices get to have the last laugh, since their timing was impeccable in terms of creating an impact. But — what kind of impact?
The ruling went beyond legalizing same-sex marriage. Palmer wrote that “sexual orientation constitutes a quasi-suspect classification for purposes of the equal protection provisions of the state constitution, and, therefore, our statutes discriminating against gay persons are subject to heightened or intermediate judicial scrutiny.”
Via Ampersand at Alas, a blog:
Two of the three dissenters claimed that lesbians and gays are already a super-powerful group and therefore shouldn’t be seen as a suspect class. The third dissenter took the “marriage is about heterosexual reproduction and nothing else” route.
[S]tate Attorney General Richard Blumenthal noted that today’s decision cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because it was based on the state constitution.
As for the political implications, it’s hard to guess how and whether voters elsewhere will react to the decision. For that matter, we’ll have to wait and see whether McCain/Palin and/or the RNC try to exploit far-right anti-gay animus for electoral gain.
My hunch is, though, that given the financial crisis, and the fact that the sky didn’t fall when other states allowed gay couples to marry, today’s decision in Connecticut will have limited national implications. The issue just seems to lack some of the fear-factor the right relied on in previous years.
PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) heralds the decision.
Reminder, Republican same-sex marriage backers reap big benefits! NY or NJ will be first to get same sex marriage through the legislature. Soon.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Legal Matters, Moral Values, Culture Wars, Homosexuality, Homophobia, Society, GLBT Issues, Law & Legal Matters. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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