Connecticut Attorney General's Opinion on Civil Unions
I received this in my email today. The attorney general of Connecticut has made a determination on how Connecticut will deal with civil unions that will become legal as of October 1, 2005.
Earlier today, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal released a legal opinion stating that the State of Connecticut will recognize civil unions from Vermont and domestic partnerships from California but not marriages of same-sex couples from Massachusetts. The full opinion can be found at LINK.
Below is the statement of Love Makes a Family President, Anne Stanback.
“Today’s opinion by the Attorney General was a welcome clarification as to how the state of Connecticut will treat the civil unions and domestic partnerships from other states. But the Attorney General’s opinion shines a spotlight on why civil unions, while an expansion of needed rights and protections, leave same-sex couples with an insecure family status.
“Connecticut generally recognizes legal marriages from other states, even when those marriages are not performed in our state such as is the case with common law marriages. But today, Connecticut same-sex couples who have been legally married in Massachusetts, not to mention Massachusetts residents who were married and have since moved to Connecticut or who travel here each day for work, are being told that their legal marriages are invisible and invalidated.
“By choosing to recognize the civil unions and domestic partnerships from Vermont and California but not the marriages of same-sex couples from our neighboring state of Massachusetts, Connecticut is saying very clearly that civil union is not marriage and not its equal. Today’s opinion is yet one more example of why the fairest, least confusing way to recognize and respect the relationships of all loving, committed couples is to end discrimination in the civil marriage laws of our state.”
“The Connecticut General Assembly has specifically determined that same-sex marriages are contrary to Connecticut law. Because the legislature has determined that marriages in Connecticut may only be between a man and a woman, same-sex marriages performed under laws of any other State violate Connecticut’s expressly articulated public policy and are not required by the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution to be recognized here.”
It was part of the agreement, before Governor Rell signed the civil union bill, that marriage be defined within the civil union bill itself, as being between one man and one woman. I found that revolting. Here, in our civil union bill, is language that simply reinforces that, even though we are getting civil unions, we should not make the mistake of thinking that this civil union is in any way equal to marriage.
The attorney general made that very clear today. This is why Kent and I will not sink to the level of signing up for this legislative piece of crap a Connecticut civil union.
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