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Friday, October 10th, 2008
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12:34p - Way to go, Connecticut! One more milesotne passed...
From Equality Maryland:
In yet another watershed moment for the LGBT civil rights movement, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 today that it is unconstitutional to deny marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples. The decision overturns a lower court ruling that found no real harm to same-sex couples because Connecticut grants many of the state-level protections of married couples through civil unions. The Supreme Court disagreed with the lower court and ruled that the civil unions scheme is not acceptable and discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.
"Today's historic decision in Connecticut represents real progress for all Americans who cherish justice and fairness," said Executive Director Dan Furmansky. "Wanting to commit to the person you love and assure that your relationship and your family has every legal protection available is basic human nature. This ruling will strongly impact our efforts to end marriage discrimination in Maryland, and Equality Maryland will not stop until that has been achieved."
Connecticut is now the third U.S. state to grant the freedom to marry to same-sex couples, after Massachusetts and California. New York, in addition, recognizes marriages betweens same-sex couples performed in other states.
"I'm so grateful to see that courts are finally recognizing what we knew all along, which is that love is love and all people are deserving of respect and equal treatment under the law," said Lisa Polyak, the lead plaintiff with her partner of 27-years, Gita Deane, in Maryland's marriage equality court case, which failed 4-3 in September 2007. "It's a continuing sadness to me that Maryland couldn't be one of these states, and I hope the Governor and legislature will work as quickly as possible to remedy this very clear and very unnecessary deficiency."
Equality Maryland congratulates the couples who challenged Connecticut's denial of marriage licenses, as well as the primary organizations - Love Makes a Family and Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) - who worked to make today's victory possible.
To read the full opinion, visit: http://www.jud.state.ct.us/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR289/289CR152.pdf.
current mood:  pleased (2 comments |comment on this)
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