In Hartford, Conn., April 13, after many hours of debate, the House of Representatives passed a bill approving same-sex civil unions with the attachment that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.
This legislation, a decision made by the representatives, with a 85-63 vote, will be passed to the Senate for approval in this upcoming week, and then to Gov. M. Jodi Rell to sign off on the new law.
Gov. Rell, who strongly feels that discrimination will not be tolerated in any form, but holds true to the traditional ideal of marriage, commended the legislators for creating a compromise that she called “stronger and clearer.”
If the Senate agrees, then Connecticut will become the first state to voluntarily establish same-sex civil unions without court action. So far, Vermont accepts civil unions and Massachusetts acknowledges gay marriages, but it was on the premise of lawsuits and complaints.
According to recent polls, Connecticut residents do favor civil unions but oppose marriage for same-sex couples, though opponents who criticized the bill argued that civil unions is the same as granting the marriage license.
On Wednesday morning, a crowd of about 300 people, rallied together at the Capitol to protest against same-sex civil unions, as it undermines state marriage laws, to express their concerns through letters and petitions.
The purpose of this crowd was to influence the representatives to veto this bill that may be approved by the Senate. However, if approved, the opponents still expressed that they would effortlessly and continually try to have it annulled one way or another.
