my home-state :)


Connecticut will begin performing civil unions on Saturday, joining Vermont as the only two states in the country offering this particular form of legal recognition to same-sex couples.

"Saturday is going to be a landmark day in the civil rights movement in Connecticut," said the sponsor of the civil union bill, state Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, one of the few openly gay legislators in Connecticut's General Assembly.

LGBT activists are planning several ceremonies for Saturday, including one officiated by Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who's running for governor.

Lawmakers passed Connecticut's civil union law in April without a court order, unlike the civil unions in Vermont or same-sex marriages in Massachusetts.

While Connecticut will recognize Vermont's civil unions and California's domestic partnerships, it will not recognize same-sex marriages from Massachusetts because state law specifies marriage is between a man and a woman.

Connecticut's civil unions, which will not be available to heterosexual couples, will give same-sex couples the same legal protections of married couples. However, once a couple with a civil union leaves the state, those protections evaporate, since the federal government defines a spouse as someone of the opposite gender.

"Our rights end at the state line," said Kix Ryen, who is planning on getting her civil union license on Saturday with her partner Cathy Ryen.

"I think it's a wonderful step in the right direction. I think most people who support civil unions but oppose same-sex marriage will eventually learn that there is a difference between the two," Ryen told the PlanetOut Network.

"In Connecticut we will both be recognized as the child's parent," Ryen said of the child she's expecting in seven months. "But we were advised to have a second-parent adoption because federally our union will not be recognized."

Ryen added she was lucky her town hall is open this weekend to grant the license, since many others will be closed at that time.

"I think you will see less of a rush on Saturday and more of a steady trickle," said Anne Stanback, president of Love Makes a Family, the organization that at one time fought the civil union law before finally embracing it.

"We're pleased that significant rights and privileges are being extended to same-sex couples, but obviously we want same-sex marriage," Stanback said, adding she hoped lawmakers would consider marriage equality again in 2007.

"We actually have a lawsuit going," she said. "It was filed in August 2004 by GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders). It will probably be another several years before that case is completed." Arguments are scheduled for January for the lawsuit brought by eight same-sex Connecticut couples.

The civil union law is also creating confusion with some employers who will be required to extend health benefits to same-sex couples.

"I think employers are going to start getting requests (for benefits) as soon as Monday. And they're not prepared," Bruce Barth, an employee benefits attorney at Robinson and Cole in Hartford, told the Associated Press (AP).

Health insurance for civil partners, for example, will be taxed by the federal government as income because couples are not considered married under federal law.

"There is certainly a level of complexity that benefit administrators are going to have to deal with," Michael Dimenstein, director of compensation and benefits for the Yale-New Haven Health System, told the AP.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, about 7,400 same-sex couples live in Connecticut, but there's no estimate on how many will seek civil unions.

"We're ready," said Sandra Hutton, president of the Connecticut Town Clerk's Association. "We have the proper documentation. We won't have any problems at all."