Legislative and electoral progress for gay and lesbian equality in the USA

The Supreme Court of Connecticut has ruled that it is unconstitutional in that state to deny same sex couples the right to marry, making it the third state in the USA, after Massachusetts and California, to provide equal recognition for same sex relationships.  All of those states are now more advanced than anywhere in Australia when it comes to marriage laws which do not discriminate on the grounds of the gender of the person you fall in love with – although it is worth noting Rodney Croome’s view that Tasmania’s Relationships Act and its relationship registry in some ways goes further than the legal recognition of same sex marriage.  In any case, while same sex marriages are now lawful in those three states of the USA, same sex couples married in those states would not be recognised as spouses under our migration law were they to try to migrate to Australia.

In a separate but also significant development in the USA for the cause of equality for lesbians and gay men, this story on DemConWatch notes that Jared Polis, the Democrat candidate for the second congressional district in Colorado, looks set to become the first openly gay man to be elected to the US Congress without already being an incumbent.  Other gay men have come out after being already elected, and then been successful getting re-elected, but he will reportedly be the first to be openly gay prior to being elected the first time.

The current incumbent for the Colorado Second district, Mark Udall, is contesting a Senate spot this time (and in with a good chance of making this a Democrat gain from the Republicans). The district is considered a safe Democrat one, making Polis a safe bet to win the open seat. Of course, he had to triumph in the Democrat primary first to be the party’s nominee in this seat.  As far as I am aware, no openly gay man or woman has won a seat in the single member electorates which constitute Australia’s House of Representatives.