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Savoring A Proud Moment For State (Hartford Courant)
Sunday, November 16, 2008
By: Susan Campbell
In the end, the moment was quiet as dawn -- and every bit as significant. The lawyers filed in, the room settled, and a robed Judge Jonathan E. Silbert emerged from his chambers. After years of contention, within 10 minutes on Wednesday morning, Silbert signed off on a recent state Supreme Court decision that ruled same-sex marriage legal in Connecticut.
And just like that, in a bland New Haven courtroom, a load was lifted. The eight plaintiff couples in Kerrigan vs. Connecticut Department of Public Health — some of whom brought their children — sat quietly, a few nodding, a few in tears.
This past week, Connecticut joined Massachusetts as the nation's only two states that grant gays and lesbians full citizenship. It's a distinction not lost on the plaintiffs, who asked that one of their attorneys, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders' Bennett Klein, say in court how proud they are to live here.
We all can be proud.
On Wednesday, the opposing sides shook hands. On the elevator ride down after the hearing, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose staff argued against the plaintiffs, cordially crowded with others into an elevator with Anne Stanback, Love Makes a Family's inflappable leader. Blumenthal called the decision "historic."
In the courtroom's lobby, plaintiff Jeffrey Busch walked over to shake Blumenthal's hand, and the attorney general smiled when Busch said, "It was a tough case to argue, and I'm very happy with the outcome."
Would that everyone would be so gracious.
In Connecticut, the good news of marriage equality was coupled with voters on Election Day resoundingly defeating the question of a constitutional convention, which was seen as a portal for introducing an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.
But the state's celebratory air stood in stark contrast to the rest of the nation, where voters in four states chose to turn the clocks back to the bad old days and rip rights from their gay and lesbian fellow citizens. California voters passed — 52 percent to 48 percent — Proposition 8, which inserts into the state constitution: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The proposition was loudly supported by, among others, the Roman Catholic and the Mormon churches. Church leaders insisted their opposition to same-sex marriages not be construed as "hostility" toward homosexuals.
Oh, no? Precisely how does one politely take away rights?
Arizona and Florida banned same-sex marriage as well, and in Arkansas, voters went even further by barring unmarried couples from adopting children. Though the law applies to heterosexual couples, too, proponents said they specifically wanted to thwart the "gay agenda."
Ah, yes. That. Raising families. Enjoying full citizenship. Providing homes for children who wouldn't otherwise have them. There's your gay agenda.
People who oppose same-sex marriage often say that gays and lesbians who wed threaten the institution of marriage, if not our whole culture. That's hysterical hyperbole.
Here in Connecticut, the state Supreme Court's decision came down five weeks ago. All across the state, same-sex couples have been applying for marriage licenses since Wednesday and as far as I can tell, life has gone on much the same as before. The birds chirp, the sun rises, and families move fearlessly and faithfully into the future.
At least, some families do. As for the rest of the country, Connecticut's prayers are with you.
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