Judiciary Committee Votes To Clean Up Marriage Laws
by Christine Stuart | March 30, 2009 5:47 PM
Posted to Courts
| Legal
| State Capitol
After more than three hours of debate and a handful of amendments the legislature’s Judiciary Committee approved by a vote of 30 to 10 a bill which codifies the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision.
The bill also removes gender references in state marriage laws and transforms existing same-sex civil unions into marriages as of October 2010. It now has to be approved by the General Assembly.
Most of the debate Monday centered around religious freedom and the ability of a religious organization to deny a same-sex couple the use of its reception hall for a marriage ceremony.
Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, who led the debate on an amendment which ultimately failed, said by exempting religious organizations the state of Connecticut could avoid what happened in state’s like New Jersey where a church lost its tax exempt status for denying a same-sex couple the right to marry on church owned property.
Morris said he was simply trying to balance the rights of religious groups with the new rights recently granted to same-sex couples through the Kerrigan decision.
Opponents to Morris’ amendment said that it discriminates against same-sex couples and possibly goes against the spirit of the court’s decision.
Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, said Morris’ amendment treated same-sex couples differently than other couples. “What we are doing here today is making sure we are not treating people as other,” Holder-Winfield said. He said Morris’ amendment discriminated against a certain group of people, but Morris argued there are plenty of choices out there.
Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, said if an organization chooses to rent out a hall to the general public, then they can’t discriminate. Lawlor also spoke against an amendment which would have allowed justices of the peace to decide not to perform same-sex marriages.
He said when it comes to justices of the peace and retired judges, “we don’t want people picking and choosing what laws they uphold,” and the Kerrigan decision is now part of the state’s law.
The only way the Kerrigan decision can be overturned now is through a constitutional amendment.
Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, who supported Morris’ amendment Monday said Connecticut is a tolerant state. He said even before the court issued its decision he felt the state’s legislature was moving toward approving same-sex marriage independent of a Supreme Court decision.
Comments (5)
Posted by: twoladiesinwaiting | March 30, 2009 7:34 PM
Well done article (as usual), CTNewsJunkie. I am interested in knowing more about the Gonzalez amendment.
Posted by: William Kurtz | March 31, 2009 8:25 AM
I'm a strong supporter of marriage equality and I understand Rep. Holder-Winfield's point about discrimination, but in the long run, I think the intent of the legislation is better served by allowing religious organizations some flexibility. I'm not sure why a same-sex couple would even want to rent a reception hall from the Catholic church, but I don't think the church should be under an obligation to host them. The wall between church and state needs to protect each of these institutions from undue influence by the other. Judges and JPs are a different matter; theirs is a civil function and they have a clear obligation to uphold all laws and serve all citizens without regard for their own prejudices or moral values.
Posted by: Talia | March 31, 2009 9:57 AM
What are they going to do with the civil unions that will be dissolved between now and 10/2010?
Posted by: christine | March 31, 2009 12:08 PM
Talia, If a civil union is dissolved before Oct. 2010 then it is dissolved. Period. No need to do anything else. After Oct. 2010 to dissolve a marriage people would have to get a divorce.
~Christine
Posted by: Talia | March 31, 2009 1:55 PM
Currently, you have to go through a divorce type proceedure to dissolve a civil union. It is just a different titled form (or Complaint). You can find the form online. My question is more about the things that happen in the civil union such as children born and property acquired.