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ENFIELD: Motorcyclist Injured Near Food Bag
Found: 21 Hours 10 Minutes ago
Hartford Courant - A 54-year-old Somers man suffered serious injuries Sunday after his motorcycle collided with a pickup truck on Hazard Avenue....
Off-Duty Officer Fatally Injured
Found: 1 Day 16 Hours 19 Minutes ago
Hartford Courant - An off-duty police officer died early Saturday morning after his car hit a utility pole on Route 75, state police said....
The Wooden Heads At The Hartford DPW
Found: 1 Day 16 Hours 19 Minutes ago
Hartford Courant - Everyone loves happy endings....
Two People Saved From House Fire
Found: 1 Day 16 Hours 19 Minutes ago
Hartford Courant - A visitor was able to save two people at a burning house Saturday after noticing smoke billowing out of a back door, firefighters said....
Second Stimulus Plan Sought
Found: 1 Day 16 Hours 20 Minutes ago
Hartford Courant - Gov. M. Jodi Rell and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney are among a growing number of officials asking the federal government to enact a second economic stimulus plan....
Long Island Sound Cleanup Efforts Get Boost
Found: 2 Days 17 Hours 29 Minutes ago
Hartford Courant - Efforts to clean up Long Island Sound and Jamaica Bay got a $3.3 million boost this week, thanks in part to two settlements in pollution cases....
Winner Ford scraps plans to relocate, decides to close
Found: 2 Days 17 Hours 48 Minutes ago
The Day - Lisbon- After more than a decade, Winner Ford on Route 12 is closing its doors and scrapping plans to relocate to a more ...
Ziegler's goal gives EL win
Found: 2 Days 17 Hours 57 Minutes ago
The Day - Colchester- Phil Ziegler scored with just over two minutes remaining in overtime to give the East Lyme High School boys' soccer team a ...
Couples who challenged Conn.'s marriage laws
Found: 2 Days 22 Hours 8 Minutes ago
Boston Globe - Eight gay couples are challenging the state law that prohibits them from marrying. From the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders Web site, here is a look at the couples:...
Conn. Supreme Court OKs gay marriage
Found: 3 Days 1 Hour 9 Minutes ago
The Hour - WASHINGTON
JORDAN ZAPPALA
Hour Washington Correspondent
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to marry, making Connecticut the third state in the country to allow same-sex marriage, following Massachusetts and California.
In a 4-3 ruling that reversed a lower court decision, the Supreme Court determined that the state's marriage law discriminated against gays and lesbians because it violated the state constitution's equal protection principles. The case was brought by eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses and sued the state in 2004.
"In light of the history of pernicious discrimination faced by gay men and lesbians, and because the institution of marriage carries with it a status and significance that the newly created classification of civil unions does not embody, the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm," Justice Richard Palmer wrote in the court's majority opinion.
Janet Peck - a plaintiff with her partner of 33 years, Carol Conklin - said that she started crying immediately upon hearing the decision.
"We are just so, so happy - there are not enough words to express how happy we are," said Peck, a mental health counselor from Colchester. "I am thrilled that after our 33 years together, we have finally been legally recognized, and that so many other gay and lesbian couples will have the equal protection they deserve."
Peck said that she and Conklin will be getting married soon, but that their "families have been waiting so long for this, it is important that they be able to celebrate with us."
"We are thrilled with the ruling," said Carisa Cunningham, public affairs director for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) - the group that represented Peck and the other plaintiffs in the case. "Today's decision represents the hopes and dreams of lesbian and gay couples to live as full and equal parties in the eyes of the law."
The Connecticut Legislature passed a law in 2005 allowing civil unions for same-sex couples, but the plaintiffs argued - and the court agreed - that the unions did not afford the same benefits or protections as marriage.
The Family Institute of Connecticut, a political action committee opposed to gay marriage, quickly spoke out against the ruling.
"Even the legislature, as liberal as ours, decided that marriage is between a man and a woman," said the group's executive director Peter Wolfgang. "This is about our right to govern ourselves. It is bigger than gay marriage."
Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she disagreed with the court's decision, but said Friday that she would not fight it.
"She is opposed to the ruling," said Luigi Fulinello, assistant to Rell. "However, it is a Supreme Court decision, and there's nothing she can do to overturn that. She does not believe any attempts to reverse the decision through the Legislature would be successful at this time."
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is impossible since the decision was based solely on "an interpretation of state constitutional law."
"The State Supreme Court is the ultimate authority on all state law, and its ruling on the state constitution must be respected," he said Friday.
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