SEXUAL ORIENTATION; MARRIAGE (GENERAL);

MARRIAGE;

Court Cases; Connecticut laws/regulations;

You asked whether Connecticut will recognize same-sex Canadian marriages if the Canadian couple moves to, or travels through,

Connecticut. The Office of Legislative Research cannot give legal opinions and this report should not be considered as such.

It is impossible to confidently predict what a Connecticut court would do if asked to rule on the validity of a same-sex marriage validly contracted in Canada between Canadian citizens. As a general rule, a marriage valid where the ceremony is performed is valid everywhere. But Connecticut recognizes an exception for marriages that contravene the state’s public policy or violate its positive laws (Adamsen v. Adamsen, 151 Conn. 172, 176 (1963)).

As there is no positive law forbidding same-sex relationships, the court would have to examine Connecticut’s statutory and common law to determine whether giving the marriage legal recognition would violate a strong public policy. Its analysis would likely include provisions of the Gay Rights and Co-Parent Adoption laws, which contain language about the state’s policy.

The first statute provides that nothing in the Gay Rights Law “shall be deemed or construed (1) to mean that the state of Connecticut condones homosexuality or bisexuality or any equivalent lifestyle … [or] …(4) to authorize the recognition of or right of marriage between persons of the same sex” (CGS § 46a-81r).

The Co-Parent Adoption Law contains two policy statements. The first provides that “the current public policy of the state of Connecticut is now limited to a marriage between a man and a woman” (CGS § 45a-727a). And the second states that nothing in that law “shall be construed to establish or constitute an endorsement of any public policy with respect to marriage, civil union or any other form of relation between unmarried persons or with respect to any rights of or between such persons other than their rights and responsibilities to a child who is a subject of an adoption…. ” (CGS § 45a-727b).

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