Connecticut Gay Marriages Start Today

Connecticut state Rep. Beth Bye and Tracey Wilson hope to become the first gay couple to marry legally in their town of West Hartford on Wednesday.
For Wilson, it's both a personal and professional milestone. She's the town's historian.
"She'd love to be the first one in town," joked Bye, who spent hours as a lawmaker listening to testimony on the marriage issue in 2007. She was a member of the Judiciary Committee which approved a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed.
In 2005, Bye and Wilson had a church ceremony with more than 150 guests to celebrate their civil union. On Wednesday, they plan to show up at town hall in street clothes, with their kids and a friend who is a justice of the peace to make it official.
"I think for us, we really were married three years ago in our church," Bye said. "But it feels different that our state is saying, 'now you're married. You have the same rights as everyone else.'"
Superior Court Judge Jonathan Silbert has scheduled a hearing at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday in New Haven to enter the final judgment in the case that allows same-sex marriages in Connecticut. Once the hearing ends, couples can pick up marriage license forms at town and city clerk's offices.
It's unclear how many couples will get married. The state public health department says 2,032 civil union licenses were issued in Connecticut between October 2005 and July 2008.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Oct. 10 that same-sex couples have the right to wed rather than accept a civil union law. Only Connecticut and Massachusetts have legalized gay marriage.