Posted on 05/15/2007 1:41:09 PM PDT by Baladas
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- An attorney for eight homosexual couples told the Connecticut Supreme Court yesterday that their constitutional rights have been violated by the state's refusal to grant them marriage licenses.
Connecticut was the first state to allow civil unions without court pressure, but the couples say that's not enough. They want the court to rule that the state's marriage law is unconstitutional because it applies only to heterosexual couples, effectively denying homosexual couples the financial, social and emotional benefits of marriage.
"What is denied to these families is something that goes to the heart of equal protection, which is the right to be part of the fabric of society when they are just the same as other couples and other families," said their attorney, Bennett Klein. Assistant Attorney General Jane Rosenberg, representing the state, argued that civil unions give homosexual couples the same rights by state law as married couples. "
[The question] is, really, is the legislature constitutionally required to use the word 'marriage' when it's referring to the package of rights and benefits it has given to same-sex couples. And the answer is clearly no," Miss Rosenberg said. Arguments wrapped up after about three hours yesterday, and the justices are expected to rule later this year. Lawyers on both sides say a decision in the couples' favor could have nationwide implications for states that have adopted or are considering civil-union-like legislation.
Only Massachusetts allows same-sex couples to "marry." Connecticut, Vermont, California, New Jersey, Maine and Washington have laws allowing either civil unions or domestic partnerships, with New Hampshire set to join in January. Hawaii extends certain spousal rights to same-sex couples and cohabiting heterosexual pairs.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The Asst. A.G. is right. But what they want is for the state to go after the Catholic Church. They will first go after the Immaculate in Waterbury where Fr. McGivney started the KOC.
This is precisely why I oppose civil unions. Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
CT PING!
I used to support the idea of Civil Unions... I’m strongly reconsidering my position.
It's NEVER enough! No matter what the subject, with the Left it's never ever enough!......Welfare to Medicare, Never ever enough!..........
It basically is the sexual fetish crowd asking the courts to make a scientific conclusion that homosexual behavior is a status not a behavior.
This makes about as much sense as asking a judge to judicially declare the value of Pi is 3.0 just to be fair.
I would give them marriage with absolutely NO DIVORCES allowed! See how well they like it then!...........
I thought Fr. McGivney started K of C at St. Mary’s in New Haven?
I weep when I think of what my home state has become. I can never go back (except for pizza).
These are not families. Another little lie said enough...
The lawyer is basically saying that family should be defined as a matter of law rather than biology.
IOW the law should have the power to determine all for all. This homosexual “status” debate is just a useful idiot tool for those who want to set the courts as the arbiters of your life. The village speaks and you must obey.
You’re right, he was ordained at the IC.
The very definition of “Give ‘em an inch...”
No, the lawyer is using the time-tested Hitler method to humanize perverts.
How does one recognize anything by closing one's eyes?
I am a member of the Knights of Columbus. When I lived in Connecticut, I was a member of St. Mary's Church on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven. Fr. McGivney was a parish priest there when he founded the Knights of Columbus in the basement meeting hall. The first K of C Council was San Salvador Council #1 which still exists at a different location. Within a few years after the K of C was founded, St. Mary's Church became a Dominican Church (1880s). It had been built in about 1849 and is the second oldest Catholic Church in Connecticut (to the slightly older St. Mary's Church in Windsor Locks).
When the Dominicans took over, Fr. McGivney became pastor of a parish at Thomaston, Connecticut. There he contracted tuberculosis and died of it at a relatively early age (late 30s?). Fr. McGivney's mortal remains were removed from his grave at Thomaston and entombed in a marble sarcophagus at St. Mary's Church in New Haven (left rear of the Church). The Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus is headquartered to this day in downtown New Haven and the K of C paid for a very first rate restoration (costing millions of dollars) and enhancement of St. Mary's Church at New Haven about 20 years ago.
Fr. McGivney's cause for sainthood is pending and I believe that a St. Mary's Dominican priest, Fr. Gabriel O'Donnell, is in charge of advancing that cause.
“There he contracted tuberculosis and died of it at a relatively early age (late 30s?).”
That’s about right. He died two days after his 38th birthday, the day before the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.
Vivat Jesus!
GK-Elect S/K sitetest, PGK
Father O'Donnell is the postulator for Fr. McGivney's cause, and I'm sure he's a Dominican. Whether he's on staff at St. Mary's, I don't know. He looks rather elderly in his pictures ;-).
That's the one I attend....and believe me, the people here will stand behind our Pastor in not allowing homosexual weddings to be performed in the Church, no matter what the courts rule.
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