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Connecticut Gays Say Push For Civil Unions Not Over
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
May 1, 2003
12:01 a.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT
(Hartford, Connecticut) Gays and lesbians in Connecticut say they have no intention of being left at the alter.
Less than three weeks after state legislators killed a bill that would have legalized civil unions, (story) activists are rallying around a call to extend some of the benefits given only to heterosexually married couples.
"We recognize the political realities that if it takes incremental steps, steps that really make a difference in people's lives, we're willing to consider that," said Anne Stanback, president of Love Makes a Family, the coalition working to expand Connecticut's marriage laws to include same-sex couples.
Stanback says there are 588 rights given to married heterosexual couples by the state. The statutes affect divorce and support; legal authority to act in matters affecting family members; property and commerce activities; benefits of government officials; veterans and military personnel; wills; trusts; settlements; taxes; vital records; public assistance; housing; labor; and voting procedures.
Stanback said that her group is exploring with gay positive legislators ways of incorporating some of those rights into a compromise bill.
Gay and lesbian couples in Connecticut already have some rights. Last year, the General Assembly passed a law allowing two people of any gender to legally designate each other to make medical decisions and end-of life choices, such as organ donation and life support.
Same-sex couples have the backing of 180 religious leaders for a limited form of domestic partnership. The clergy all perform same-sex union ceremonies in their churches and synagogues.
"When two people fall in love and decide to spend their lives together, it is indeed a blessing," said Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett of Temple Sinai in Newington. "All couples deserve the basic freedom to marry and share fully and equally in the right, responsibility and commitment of marriage."
The Rev. Terasa Cooley, senior minister of the Unitarian Society of Hartford, said the state's current laws are barriers that keep decent and good people from supporting each other in ways that would benefit the community.
"I have often found it odd that we clergy are considered agents of the state when we perform wedding ceremonies," Cooley said.
"It feels strange to me that we would be given the responsibility to declare a union as legal, and yet be given none of the freedom to determine what we consider a morally binding relationship."
Judiciary co-Chairman Sen. Andrew McDonald said he expects the legislation to resurface as an amendment, but said there is still some support to send the defeated bill to the full Senate or House for a vote.
©365Gay.com Ltd® 2003