Connecticut licenses same-gender marriages

On November 12, 2008, Connecticut began to license same-gender marriages in response to a decision from the state's highest court handed down in October 2008. In that decision, Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, the court ruled that limiting marriage to opposite-gender couples violates the equal protection clause of the state constitution. Connecticut will license same-gender marriages and will also recognize same-gender marriages and civil unions entered into in other states. Civil unions (licensed in Connecticut beginning in 2005) will remain an option for same-gender couples, unless the legislature takes action to change the current civil union law. A civil union couple may marry each other without first dissolving their civil union. Parties to a same-gender marriage must be accorded the same tax treatment under state tax laws as accorded to other married couples. Some sponsors of private sector plans will be eager to extend benefits to same-gender spouses to the extent permitted under federal law. Others may take the position that because of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) same-gender marriages will not be recognized for any benefits governed only by federal law, such as qualified retirement plans, self-insured health benefit programs, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) special enrollment rights, and continuation coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).