You can’t stop this train from rolling, bitches!!!!
Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut as of today. The courts in the state decided it was legal a month ago, but today was the first day that couple’s could actually begin getting married. Barbara and Robin Levine-Ritterman, pictured above, filled out the paperwork, although they don’t plan on getting married right away.
“Today, Connecticut sends a message of hope and promise to lesbian and gay people throughout the country who want to be treated as equal citizens by their government,†said Ben Klein, a lawyer with Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Boston group that litigated the Connecticut case. “It is living proof that marriage equality is moving forward in this country.â€
Among the first couples actually to be married, just before 11 a.m., was Peg Oliveira, a 36-year-old yoga teacher, and Jen Vickery, a 44-year-old lawyer, who wed just outside City Hall with their 3-month-old daughter, Willow, and half a dozen friends watching. They exchanged rings, shared a story about how Ms. Oliveira proposed in the aisles of IKEA, and then had a slow, tender kiss after a friend, Judge F. Herbert Gruendel of the state appellate court, pronounced them married.
“We decided that we wanted to hold out for the real thing,†Ms. Oliveira said of why the couple, together four years, had not entered into a civil union. “We’re not having a party. Parties are fun. It’s not about the celebrating piece of this. It’s about honoring the magnitude of the rights that we will be granted and we wanted to jump in and take advantage of that right away.â€
Civil unions have been legal in Connecticut since 2005, but several couples had sued the state, claiming that the civil unions laws were unConstitutional and that they should have the right to get married. And now they do!!! HOORAY!!!!
Connecticut is the second state to legalize gay marriage; it is already legal in Massachusetts. Vermont and New Hampshire allow civil unions.
what great expressions on these people’s faces!
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Give up the fight, folks. Opposing gay marriage might just be the most doomed cause ever.
oh my god this is so wonderful! how could your ever want to deny people such pure happiness?! :D made my day!
@ Louise: I suppose if you’re a sadist you’d be out to get such a pure happiness in order to take delight in spoiling it. Some people are sad like that…
A friend once told me in regards to the the Golden Rule “Treat others the way you want to be treated…”, what do you do if you’re a masochist?
None of this was really related, but I wanted to type it nevertheless.
First of all, congratulations Connecticut. This is great but everyone remember to keep up the good fight against prop 8!
My children,in their adulthood, hopefully will think it odd that gay marriage was even something that was debated.
Go Connecticut!
Couple’s?? BEET! NO!
Offending apostrophe aside – that is terrific news. I can’t believe there are people who oppose allowing two people who love each other the right to marry. Hateful and ridiculous.
and the divorce rate in Connecticut just went up
good for them! i’m not a lesbian, but i still think it is horrible that across the country gays are still denied basic rights. did you know in some states people can fire gays for being gay? it’s horrible.
It’s 2008. We have super computers, can put people into space, have the power to destroy all life on this planet in minutes, and it about fucking time we do something civilized.
Welcome to the civilized world Connecticut. When will the rest of the US catch up?
I think this is great and i can not wait till it is all over the US. being gay all my life and knowing that my partner was once married makes me very happy to hear that we someday as well may be able ot marry each other and he can live his gay life and not have to live that sriaght life veryone else thinks we should. I think the only reson it is not legal yet is because people are afraid that they may want to marry that same sex person they have been sleeping with behind their wife/husband
We always have to do EVERYTHING Massachusetts does. God!
But I’m still psyched. And a little smug towards my friends in Cali.