General Assembly approves gay marriage bill (Connecticut); Governor to sign

[NutmegYankee]

Hartford - The General Assembly voted late Wednesday night to affirm the right of same-sex couples to marry, codifying a court ruling that made Connecticut the third state in the union to let gays and lesbians legally wed.

The House of Representatives approved the bill, by a vote of 100-44, just before 11 p.m. A spokesman for Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said moments later that she would sign the bill when it reached her desk.

Earlier in the evening, the Senate had backed it by a vote of 28-7, with support from half the chamber's Republicans and all but one Democrat.

The compromise package conforms state law with the Connecticut Supreme Court's October 2008 ruling that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The legislature's passage of the bill makes Connecticut the first state to formally enshrine a court order legalizing same-sex marriage in statute.

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=595d1a29-061e-4cc7-a1ad-fa60d4220821


I'm Proud of my state, but ashamed of some of the @ssholes that were interviewed for this article. I guess they are in every state.



Update: Gov. Rell Signs Gay Marriage Bill


Four years ago this week, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a bill allowing civil unions. Today, with the stroke of a pen, she abolished them.

Rell this afternoon signed Senate Bill 899, which incorporates the findings of the Kerrigan case into Connecticut statutes. That ruling, handed down by the state Supreme Court in October, paved the way for same-sex marriage.

Both the House and the Senate spent hours yesterday debating Senate Bill 899, which passed only after an amendment was added that provides an exemption to groups who object to same-sex marriage on religious grounds.

""This bipartisan vote is a strong affirmation of the Kerrigan decision and the dignity and respect of same-sex couples and their families," Anne Stanback, executive director of Love Makes a Family said in a statement. "Today, fairness won out over fear."

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hcu-gaymarriage-0423,0,664738.story