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Things to Do in Connecticut: Get Gay Married

Aahh, autumn in New England.  There is so much beauty.  Take Connecticut for example.  Many of us outside of the Northeast think of it only as New York City’s suburb, but this charming little state has a lot to offer, and enjoys a special place in history.  For example, did you know the hamburger was invented there?  Did you know that Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were created in Mark Twain’s house in Hartford?  Did you know that his neighbor was Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin broke new literary and social ground?  Did you know that you can now get gay-married in the Constitution State?

George W. Bush, that “Texas cowboy” who was actually born in Hartford, Connecticut, must be turning in his political grave.  CNN reports that the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled today that gay and lesbian couples have the right to get married.  That makes the Constitution State the third in the country to legalize gay marriage, after Massachusetts and California.  It was actually first to legalize civil unions in 2005.  In its ruling, the Connecticut Supreme Court said that equal protection means equal protection, whether the rights in question are for gays and lesbians or any other citizen:

“To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others. The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry.”

So go ahead, go leaf-watching.  You can get gay married while you’re there. You might even include the Connecticut state song, Yankee Doodle, in your ceremony.