YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

this is wonderful news. my heart is full of joy. i'm sure there are those that will do everything within their power to overturn this. i never understood it. it's fear of course. the country is NOT going to 'turn' gay if you allow gay people to have the rights they, along with EVERYONE ELSE not only deserve but HAVE by the laws of this nation. you can't EXCLUDE someone if they are gay (it's my belief 99% of people are born with their homosexuality or heterosexuality). you cannot NOT allow gay people to marry. they have partners, they fall in love. they need the legal rights just like all OTHER married couples are afforded. to me, love is love. to me, a family is a family if it involves love, respect and nurturing NO MATTER HOW THAT FAMILY IS MADE UP

State Supreme Court Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

By DANIELA ALTIMARI
The state Supreme Court on Friday delivered gay and lesbian couples the validation they have long been seeking — the right to marry.

In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that same-sex couples cannot be prevented from marrying — and that civil unions, those marriage-like legal arrangements that Connecticut has offered to gay people since 2005, are not an acceptable substitute.

"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 ... same-sex partner of their choice," Justice Richard Palmer wrote. "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others."

The 85-page ruling means that thousands of gay couples soon will be able to marry in Connecticut, perhaps as early as next month. It also provides fresh fuel to opponents of same-sex marriage, who are pushing for a mechanism that would permit them to amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex unions..............

Judges: Conn. Nation's Third State To Allow Same-Sex Weddings

Expert: 'It's Another Court Saying That Separate But Equal Is Not OK'

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The idea that civil unions could be a satisfying but less contentious substitute to gay marriage was knocked down Friday by Connecticut's Supreme Court.

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Read The Decision
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There is no substitute, the justices ruled 4-3 as they made the state the nation's third to allow same-sex weddings.
The ruling might not have been as earthshaking as the one in Massachusetts that allowed gay marriage for the first time in the U.S., or the one in California that made it legal on the other side of the country and in the nation's most populous state. But it cut into the view that there is some solid middle ground on an issue that has inflamed passions on both sides."It's another court saying that separate but equal is not OK," said Edward Stein, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City. "As state courts start to say this ... gradually, over time, there might be a consensus that emerges."Same-sex weddings are expected to begin in Connecticut in less than a month. Out-of-staters will be eligible, but few other states are likely to recognize the unions...............
Reverend willing and able to tie the same sex knot
by News Channel 8's Crystal Haynes

(WTNH) -- Many Connecticut residents are sharply divided on the issue of same sex marriage, but so are the clergy. News Channel 8 talked to a reverend who says she is ready to help any couples in love tie the knot.

There has been outrage and overwhelming joy over the state Supreme Court's decision to allow gay marriage.

Reverend Kathleen McTigue says she agrees with the decision saying, "One of the core values in our religion is the teaching that all human beings are of infinite worth and value and every human life weighs the same."

"Fundamentally it is the truth that they are simply not treated equally. Marriage under the law is a civil right and it has not been granted to them equally," Reverend McTigue said.

As a Unitarian minister, Reverend McTigue stopped signing marriage licenses four years ago because if she couldn't sign for everyone, she wouldn't sign for anyone..................