Amid planning for nationwide protests against California’s passage of the anti-gay measure that re-bans same-sex marriage in the state, Connecticut gay and lesbian couples said their legal “I dos” for the first time Wednesday.
Peg Oliveira and Jennifer Vickery became the first couple to marry in the state since the Connecticut State Supreme Court handed down a decision to legalize same-sex marriage on Oct. 10, according the Boston Globe.
State Appellate Court Judge Herbert Gruendel, a friend of the couple, married the couple in a small ceremony outside New Haven City Hall, with their 3-month old daughter Willow at their side.
"I want to say thank you to Connecticut for letting us do this," Vickery said.
The decision to legalize gay marriage in the state is the result of a lawsuit eight plaintiff couples filed four years ago, which argued that the state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
Connecticut couples began their nuptials Wednesday, once a lower court judge entered a formal decision to comply with the Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage was legal in the state, according to theBoston Globe.
"Today, Connecticut sends a message of hope and inspiration to lesbian and gay people throughout this country who simply want to be treated as equals by their government," Ben Klein, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, said Wednesday.
While couples throughout the state celebrated their right to marry, the specter of Prop. 8’s passage, which re-banned gay marriage in California, after that state’s Supreme Court made it legal in June, hung in the air for some otherwise ecstatic couples.
"We're very sad," said Stephen Davis, who, with his partner Jeffrey Busch, was one of the plaintiff couples who got their marriage license in New Haven yesterday. "It does somewhat diminish our joy."
