The establishment of LGBT rights in the U.S. state of Connecticut is a recent phenomenon, with most advances in LGBT rights taking place in the 21st century. In regard to very liberal LGBT rights, Connecticut was the second U.S. state to enact two major pieces of pro-LGBT legislation; the repeal of the sodomy law in 1971 and the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2008. State law bans discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity. Additionally, conversion therapy is also outlawed in the state.
Video LGBT rights in Connecticut
Legality of same-sex sexual activity
Laws against consensual sodomy were repealed in 1971.
Maps LGBT rights in Connecticut
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Connecticut enacted a civil union law effective October 1, 2005, that provided same-sex couples with some of the same rights and responsibilities under state law as married couples.
On October 10, 2008, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry and said the state's civil union statute violated the equal protection clause of the state Constitution. The decision came in a case brought in 2004 by eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in the town of Madison. The first same-sex marriages in Connecticut took place on November 12.
In April 2009, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill to fully codify same-sex marriage within Connecticut statutes, abolished civil unions and all existing civil unions automatically became civil marriages from October 1, 2010. The bill was signed into law by Republican Governor Jodi Rell.
Discrimination protections
Connecticut bans discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in public places, public and private employment, governmental services and in receiving goods and services from public places or governmental institutions. Sexual orientation discrimination has been prohibited in the state since 1991, gender identity was added to the state's anti-discrimination law in 2011.
Hate crimes
All individual citizens under state law are protected from hate crimes motivated by both sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
Adoption and parenting
Connecticut allows adoption by single individuals, opposite sex and same-sex couples, married or not. Statutes say that the sexual orientation of a prospective adoptive parent may be considered in adoption decisions, but there is no evidence that an adoption has been denied on the basis of sexual orientation.
Gender identity and expression
In June 2015, the Connecticut General Assembly passed H.B. No. 7006 (Senate by a vote of 32-3 and the House by a vote of 126-18), a law to make it easier for transgender people to access and/or change to their birth certificates without any surgery. Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed the bill into law and it became effective on October 1, 2015.
Conversion therapy
On May 2, 2017, the Connecticut House of Representatives passed a bill (HB 6695), by a vote of 141-8, to ban conversion therapy on minors. The bill passed by a unanimous vote of 36-0 in the Hung 18-Republican and 18-Democrat Connecticut Senate on May 10. Governor Dannel P. Malloy (D) signed the bill into law immediately after, and it went into effect immediately.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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