Gay Marriages Begin in Connecticut
By LISA W. FODERARO
NEW HAVEN — Bunches of white balloons and giant sprays of long-stemmed red roses festooned City Hall here Wednesday morning, as one of the eight couples who successfully sued the state to allow same-sex marriage became the first to obtain a marriage license as the law took effect.
The couple, Barbara and Robin Levine-Ritterman, filled out the paperwork and waited about 10 minutes for it to be processed, but they said they would not marry today because they were still working out their wedding plan. “We’re thinking about doing it May,” said Robin Levine-Ritterman, who was holding a bouquet of roses. “We really wanted to be part of this historic first.”
The official start of gay marriages came a month after Connecticut’s highest court legalized the unions, and the court announced only last week that Wednesday would be the official first day of nuptials. Many gay and lesbian couples said they would wait to apply for their licenses, which expire after 65 days, as they planned big wedding celebrations for the spring and summer.
Advocates for same-sex marriage predicted there would not be the same rush for licenses here on Wednesday that there was in 2004 when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize the unions, and in June, when California began performing the ceremonies. They cited the short notice of Wednesday’s events and the fact that Connecticut has had civil unions for gay couples since 2005. But the lawyers who argued the case and others called the day momentous, especially as a counterpoint to last week’s passage of a ballot measure in California invalidating that state’s court decision legalizing gay marriage.
“Today, Connecticut sends a message of hope and promise to lesbian and gay people throughout the country who want to be treated as equal citizens by their government,” said Ben Klein, a lawyer with Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Boston group that litigated the Connecticut case. “It is living proof that marriage equality is moving forward in this country.”
Among the first couples actually to be married, just before 11 a.m., was Peg Oliveira, a 36-year-old yoga teacher, and Jen Vickery, a 44-year-old lawyer, who wed just outside City Hall with their 3-month-old daughter, Willow, and half a dozen friends watching. They exchanged rings, shared a story about how Ms. Oliveira proposed in the aisles of IKEA, and then had a slow, tender kiss after a friend, Judge F. Herbert Gruendel of the state appellate court, pronounced them married.
“We decided that we wanted to hold out for the real thing,” Ms. Oliveira said of why the couple, together four years, had not entered into a civil union. “We’re not having a party. Parties are fun. It’s not about the celebrating piece of this. It’s about honoring the magnitude of the rights that we will be granted and we wanted to jump in and take advantage of that right away.”
Massachusetts and Connecticut are now the only states allowing same-sex marriage. Vermont and New Hampshire also have civil unions. And California has domestic partnerships that provide many similar rights and privileges.
