Word: connecticutitis
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...Connecticut decision lacks the historical frisson of the Massachusetts ruling from 2004 and the extended eloquence of the California ruling from earlier this year. The Connecticut justices didn't take the opportunity - as the California justices did - to dismantle the various arguments that social conservatives have used over the years to oppose marriage equality. There is only one brief moment of righteous clarity in the Connecticut ruling - the part where the court explains why civil unions do not suffice: "Although marriage and civil unions do embody the same legal rights under our law, they are by no means 'equal...
...Connecticut justices spend most of the remainder of the 85-page decision explaining how gays have been victimized. The court felt this was necessary in order to classify gays as a "quasi-suspect class" entitled to heightened protection under the state constitution. And so there is page after page on how powerless gays and lesbians are. "For centuries," the justices wrote, people have disliked gays. "Until not long ago, gay persons were widely regarded as deviants ... [who were] mentally ill ... [G]ay persons also face virulent homophobia that rests on nothing more than feelings of revulsion ... Insofar as gay persons...
There are two problems here. First, it's not true that gays play only a small and insular role in politics. According to the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, there are 398 openly gay elected officials in the U.S., nine of them in Connecticut. The treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, Andrew Tobias, is openly gay, and wealthy gay people are among the top donors to the Barack Obama campaign and to outside groups helping Obama...
...almost beginning to feel routine. Like the Massachusetts and California high courts before it, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex couples should be allowed to wed. "Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same-sex partner of their choice," Justice Richard Palmer wrote in his 4-3 opinion...
...races in New York. If they are successful, they will help win same-sex marriage for New Yorkers without our having to beg for equality from judges who take pity on how glum our lives are. If gays can help win in New York, we will prove that the Connecticut justices are right about marriage but wrong about gay political power...