Tuesday, January 7, 2003
Connecticut legislature indifferent on same-sex report
A story released today by the Record-Journal reports that a seemingly routine vote in the Connecticut legislature to forward a committee report on same-sex marriages and civil unions that made no recommendations pro or con underscored the politically touchiness of the subject.
Monday morning's vote arguably resulted in the very outcome opponents sought to avoid, said Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, House chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and a supporter of legal recognition of homosexual couples.
A divided committee voted 18-7 to submit to forward the report to the General Assembly. Another 15 members did not vote on the question.
Supporters of same-sex marriage and civil unions had not expected the vote Monday morning would cause a controversy in the Judiciary Committee, but it did.
"I think it is time for us to address this issue," said Sen.-elect Christopher S. Murphy, D-Southington, the incoming Senate vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "I understand this is going to be a long and difficult debate, but it's time for us to recognize same-sex couples deserve rights."
The debate Monday morning in the Judiciary Committee was not an encouraging sign for supporters of same-sex marriage and civil unions, but they were not discouraged by it, either.
Committee members spent most of the meeting debating whether they even had to vote to forward the report to the legislature. A public act passed last year required the committee to prepare a report on same-sex marriages and civil unions.
Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, the committee's ranking Senate Republican, opposes same-sex marriages and civil unions, but he favored forwarding the report to the legislature.
"We are making absolutely no recommendations. We are making absolutely no findings of fact," Kissel told committee colleagues.
He said a vote to submit the report would demonstrate the Connecticut legislature's willingness to study any issue and consider all opinions and information. He said nothing contained in the report has changed his opinion.
