When recalling the public policy achievements of her administration during her farewell announcement on Monday, one of the first things Gov. M. Jodi Rell chose to highlight was her signing of the state's landmark law granting civil unions to same-sex couples. In a voice heavy with emotion, Rell recalled the words of gratitude from a gay couple who hugged her at the Stafford Motor Speedway.
Those comments won her thanks from state Rep. Michael Lawlor, who helped lead the charge on same-sex marriage at the Capitol, as well as kudos from at least one gay blogger. "Rell is a shining star of decency within the Republican Party and it will be diminished by her retirement,'' writes Timothy Kincaid on the Box Turtle Bulletin. But they left Peter Wolgang scratching his head.
Wolfgang, executive director of the Connecticut Family Institute, noted that Rell has long been on record as opposing same-sex marriage. Yet the civil union law that she signed provided the linchpin for the legal argument brought by gay rights activists in the Kerrigan case.
"Even as Gov. Rell leaves the scene, she seems clueless about the role she played in [bringing about] something she herself says she opposes,'' Wolfgang said in an interview this week.
In 2007, Rell helped stop momentum for legislative approval of same-sex marriage when she signaled that she would veto such a measure. But she made a "horrible misjudgment'' in 2005, when she signed the civil union bill. In ruling that same-sex couples had the right to marry, the state Supreme Court cited the civil union law, saying it was not an acceptable substitute for marriage.
"Gov. Rell did serious harm to the cause of family life in Connecticut by signing the civil union bill,'' Wolfgang said. "She was a very popular politician but she was neither a courageous or imaginative one.''
Those comments won her thanks from state Rep. Michael Lawlor, who helped lead the charge on same-sex marriage at the Capitol, as well as kudos from at least one gay blogger. "Rell is a shining star of decency within the Republican Party and it will be diminished by her retirement,'' writes Timothy Kincaid on the Box Turtle Bulletin. But they left Peter Wolgang scratching his head.
Wolfgang, executive director of the Connecticut Family Institute, noted that Rell has long been on record as opposing same-sex marriage. Yet the civil union law that she signed provided the linchpin for the legal argument brought by gay rights activists in the Kerrigan case.
"Even as Gov. Rell leaves the scene, she seems clueless about the role she played in [bringing about] something she herself says she opposes,'' Wolfgang said in an interview this week.
In 2007, Rell helped stop momentum for legislative approval of same-sex marriage when she signaled that she would veto such a measure. But she made a "horrible misjudgment'' in 2005, when she signed the civil union bill. In ruling that same-sex couples had the right to marry, the state Supreme Court cited the civil union law, saying it was not an acceptable substitute for marriage.
"Gov. Rell did serious harm to the cause of family life in Connecticut by signing the civil union bill,'' Wolfgang said. "She was a very popular politician but she was neither a courageous or imaginative one.''
Thank you Peter for being truthful and courageous.
I think many would say Gov. Rell greatly enhanced the cause of family life in Connecticut and that she was both courageous and imaginative because of it.
Opinion is not truth.