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Connecticut becomes third U.S. state to allow same-sex civil unions

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Saturday, October 1, 2005

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In the state of Connecticut today, a law allowing civil unions for same-sex couples took effect.

The law is unique; it allows civil unions for same-sex couples with full benefits of a regular marriage, while at the same time defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Heterosexual couples are not allowed to receive civil unions. The license application will be identical to one for a regular marriage, except "bride" and "groom" are replaced with "party 1" and "party 2."

The Connecticut civil unions law is the first gay marriage law to be passed voluntarily; lawsuits forced fellow New England states Vermont and Massachusetts to allow same-sex unions. Vermont has civil unions while Massachusetts allows actual same-sex marriage. Some localities have recognized same-sex couples in the form of a domestic partnership.

"This is a historic day. We're beyond ecstatic." said Randy Sharp, 46, of Plainville, who was applying for a license with his partner Jeff Blanchette, 44.

Not everyone is happy about the law. Already, opponents are lobbying for an amendment that will ban same-sex marriage. "Today was a sad day for our state. It was a sad day for our state's children." said Brian Brown, executive director of Family Institute of Connecticut. The group held a protest outside the Capitol which was attended by 50 people. Last year eleven states voted on Election Day to prohibit same-sex marriage.

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
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