Last year, before fleeing the South, I was under a constant barrage of insults from my Californian wife regarding how backwoods my hometown was. Compared to California’s diverse utopia, my wife would say, Gainesville Florida might as well still be fighting the civil war. I could only take so much, and, in an effort to appease her, we moved to the Philly burbs, where we’ve lived happy ever after.
But, even after basking in Philly’s awesomeness for over a year, I still had to hear about how wonderful California is for diverse members of humanity like us.
Proposition 8 has regrettably put an abrupt halt to my wife’s five-year long string of smack talk.
Connecticut, despite the cold, appears to be the all that California’s not cracked up to be. A recent State Supreme Court ruling has recognized the threat that bans like Prop 8 pose to civil rights. According to the associated press,
While there's anger and recriminations in California's gay-rights movement after voters there banned same-sex marriage, gay couples in Connecticut are at the opposite extreme: They're getting ready to exchange vows.
Superior Court Judge Jonathan Silbert has scheduled a hearing Wednesday morning to enter the final judgment in the case that allows same-sex marriages in Connecticut. Once entered, couples can pick up marriage license forms at town and city clerk's offices, and some plan get married immediately afterward.
Since Connecticut voters last Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment similar to California’s, the health department has already begun printing new marriage applications to accommodate the change. The only other state to recognize gay marriage is Massachusetts.
Some Californians are seeking similar relief from their courts. And, of course, Connecticut is still replete with bigots intent on overturning the decision there. To them, religious dogma supersedes basic human decency. One such bigot ironically assails the court decision as "undemocratic":
The Family Institute of Connecticut, a political action group that opposes gay marriage, condemned the high court's decision as undemocratic. Peter Wolfgang, the group's executive director, acknowledged banning gay marriage in Connecticut would be difficult but vowed not to give up.
A fundamental principle behind our democracy is the protection of minority rights, a fact obviously lost on Peter Wolfgang and bigots like him. According to Peg Oliveira, who is thrilled at the prospect of being married:
"There's a world of understanding to the word marriage that simply doesn't exist with civil unions," Oliveira said. "The relationship feels validated by the external world."