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Connecticut Judge Rules Against Homosexual Couples' Demand for “Marriage” Title

By Gudrun Schultz

HARTFORD, Connecticut, July 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homosexual couples will not be granted the right to “marry” in Connecticut, a Superior Court judge decided Wednesday, despite their possessing the same rights and protections as married couples under the state civil union law.

Judge Patty Jenkins ruled against eight same-sex couples who filed suit against the state in August 2004 after being denied marriage licenses. They were seeking the right to legally marry, the Hartford Courant reported today.

Judge Jenkins said Connecticut’s civil union law, which took effect in October 2005, already gave homosexual couples the equivalent rights and protections of marriage.

Homosexual activist groups, however, objected to the withholding of the term “marriage” under the law. In her ruling, Judge Pittman said under state constitution the law was obligated to grant the same rights as marriage, but not obligated to use the same terminology. Couples do not have the right to demand recognition that explicitly uses the term “marriage,” she stated.

“The Connecticut Constitution requires that there be equal protection and due process of law, not that there be equivalent nomenclature for such protection and process,” she wrote in her ruling.

Lawyers with the pro-family Alliance Defense Fund warned in April 2005 that granting civil union rights to homosexual couples would not satisfy activists seeking full marriage status.

“The governor believes that she can protect marriage by including a statement that says marriage is only between one man and one woman in legislation that creates civil unions for same-sex couples,” wrote senior vice president of ADF’s Marriage Litigation Center, Glen Lavy. “This is clearly naïve, as proven by media reports of homosexual activist groups that are already stating that they intend to continue to push for full-fledged marriage rights.”

“Civil unions themselves are an erosion of marriage…No one can legitimately conclude that these civil unions are anything but marriage with a different name. No matter what anyone calls it, marriage is, and always will be, a union between a man and a woman.”

The homosexual activist organization Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) filed the suit on the couples’ behalf. The lawsuit is part of an organized effort by the Boston-based group to achieve marriage rights for homosexual couples in the New England states. GLAD filed the lawsuit that eventually led to the controversial Massachusetts law giving homosexuals full marriage rights.

The eight Connecticut couples have said they intend to appeal the Superior Court ruling.

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Lawyers' Group Warns Civil Unions is Capitulation, not Compromise on Gay "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05042604.html

Connecticut's Democrat-Controlled Senate Approves Civil Unions for Homosexuals
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05040708.html

There's Nothing 'Civil' About Connecticut's New Same-Sex Civil Unions Law
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05100403.html

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