Cheer Up, Californians: Same-Sex Couples Wed in Connecticut

Though many of us on the West Coast are still despondent over the passage of Prop 8, there's reason to take heart: in Connecticut this morning, the first same-sex couples took their state-sanctioned marriage vows.

The state's supreme court legalized the marriages in October, and local courts finalized the details this morning. Last week, Connecticut voters rejected a ballot measure that would have opened the way for a constitutional challenge to the marriages, even as Californians passed Prop 8.

For me, this issue hits close to home: After sixteen years in a committed relationship, my uncle and his partner got married this past summer in Los Angeles. Prop 8's victory last week was a huge emotional blow to them, and to me.

But another personal connection gives me hope. Peg Oliveira, one of the women who got married in Connecticut this morning, was my yoga teacher while I lived in New Haven. The local online daily profiled Peg and her wife today. The two had vowed to get married, she said, "when the state of Connecticut gets around to it and catches up to us." I couldn't be happier that it finally has.

Photo of Peg Oliveira (right) and her wife, Jen Vickery, courtesy New Haven Independent.