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Connecticut Supreme Court strikes down statutory same sex marriage ban
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Connecticut became the third state in the union today to declare that its state constitution prohibits limiting the right to marry to different sex couples. In Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, the Connecticut Supreme Court held 4 to 3 in an 85-page opinion (the dissents can be found here, here, and here) that gays and lesbians had suffered a history of pernicious discrimination; that just as for gender under the federal constitution, sexual orientation was a quasi-suspect class; that statutes which classified on that basis would receive heightened scrutiny; and that the state had not offered an important enough interest to warrant the classification.
This is a very important decision in its own right, of course, but it also has significant employment law consequences. The constitutional ruling will impact benefits issues, for one thing. Many employer benefits cover spouses as dependents or beneficiaries, and now more people may marry and become spouses. Another impact will be on the state's employment discrimination laws. Connecticut already prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in both the public and private sector, but the decision reinforces that statutory protection.
Although this issue is not quite as hot a topic in as many states as it was the last election cycle, the current fight in California over Proposition 8, the initiative drive to amend the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same sex couples to marry, has the potential to fundamentally change the issue for the rest of the country. Additionally, the Iowa Supreme Court is considering the same sex marriage issue in Varnum v. Brien, which is set for argument December 9.
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