Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) today criticized Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's opinion that Connecticut would not recognize valid marriages between same-sex couples.  Marriage rights are available to same-sex couples in neighboring Massachusetts as a result of a lawsuit brought by GLAD and decided in November 2003.

"This creates a crazy two-track system that will create confusion for many couples," said  Mary L. Bonauto, Civil Rights Project Director at GLAD. "The civil union law is intended to grant rights to couples and instead is being used to take rights away. We know of many legally married couples who will now be forced to make decisions that are demeaning to their marriages."

She added, "The Attorney General's opinion ignores long-established principles of Connecticut law that a marriage that is valid where celebrated is valid in Connecticut."

One such married couple is Brian P. Rice and Jason Kelliher, who married while living in Massachusetts and then moved to Connecticut for work reasons. "It's just amazing to me," said Brian.  "We've been hopeful that Connecticut would treat our marriage with the same respect that it has treated the marriage of my co-worker, who was recently married in Massachusetts.  We feel like we're being forced into a civil union when we've already made the ultimate expression of our commitment through our marriage."

Bonauto said that the DOMA attached to the civil union law was causing harm to couples.  "The DOMA is an explicit expression of discrimination," said Bonauto.  "When married couples cross the state border between Massachusetts, they forfeit their marriage license.  That's not right."

In August 2004, GLAD filed a lawsuit, Kerrigan and Mock v. Department of Public Health, seeking marriage equality for same-sex couples in Connecticut.  Oral arguments in the case will take place early in 2006.

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