Today, I got an e-mail from LMF about Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's release of a legal opinion stating that the State of Connecticut will recognize civil unions from Vermont and domestic partnerships from California but not marriages of same-sex couples from Massachusetts.
Below is the statement of Love Makes a Family President, Anne Stanback, with which I completely agree:
"Today's opinion by the Attorney General was a welcome clarification as to how the state of Connecticut will treat the civil unions and domestic partnerships from other states. But the Attorney General’s opinion shines a spotlight on why civil unions, while an expansion of needed rights and protections, leave same-sex couples with an insecure family status.
"Connecticut generally recognizes legal marriages from other states, even when those marriages are not performed in our state such as is the case with common law marriages. But today, Connecticut same-sex couples who have been legally married in Massachusetts —not to mention Massachusetts residents who were married and have since moved to Connecticut or who travel here each day for work— are being told that their legal marriages are invisible and invalidated.
"By choosing to recognize the civil unions and domestic partnerships from Vermont and California but not the marriages of same-sex couples from our neighboring state of Massachusetts, Connecticut is saying very clearly that civil union is not marriage and not its equal. Today’s opinion is yet one more example of why the fairest, least confusing way to recognize and respect the relationships of all loving, committed couples is to end discrimination in the civil marriage laws of our state."
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