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Dozens of gay and lesbian couples planned to wed in Connecticut on Wednesday after a judge cleared the way for the state to become the
nation''s second to allow same-sex marriage. "It shows me that public opinion is really changing," said Robin Levine-Ritterman, the first in line at City Hall in New Haven to get a marriage license with her partner of 17 years, Barbara. Levine-Ritterman clutched a bouquet of red roses while proud friends and smiling government officials cheered.

The weddings, the first since Connecticut''s highest court struck down a gay-marriage ban on Oct. 10, underscore a steady expansion of gay rights in the U.S. Northeast in sharp contrast to California''s Nov. 4 vote to ban same-sex marriages. That vote triggered protests by thousands in Los Angeles.
"We have heard from dozens of couples around Connecticut who plan to get marriage licenses today," said Anne Stanback, president of gay rights group Love Makes a Family. "We expect hundreds more to get their licenses in the coming weeks and thousands more as we enter 2009."

Connecticut''s northern neighbor, Massachusetts, led the way by legalizing such marriages in 2003. Five of New England''s six states now offer same-sex couples some form of legal recognition. Gay-rights advocates are hopeful New York, New Jersey and Maryland will legalize gay marriage. "The northeastern part of the country is leading the way," Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, said in a telephone interview.

He said he hopes Vermont and New Hampshire will follow Connecticut''s lead. Those two states legalized same-sex civil unions after votes by state lawmakers, just as Connecticut did before its top court allowed gay marriage.
"Vermont and New Hampshire have civil unions debated and passed in a way that I like to think left a door open to a move toward marriage," Solmonese said, adding that many gay and lesbians nationwide see an ally in President-elect Barack Obama and hope a Democratic White House will advance their cause.

Battles nationwide

But the defeat in California that made same-sex marriage not only illegal but unconstitutional illustrates the difficulty they face. Constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage also passed last week in Florida, which backed Obama in the presidential race but voted 63 percent to 37 percent to limit marriage to
heterosexual couples.

Arizona passed a similar ban while Arkansas stopped gay couples from adopting children. The Family Institute of Connecticut, a conservative Christian group, condemns the Connecticut Supreme Court as undemocratic but acknowledges that banning gay marriage is difficult. Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican, has said she disagrees with the ruling but will uphold it.

That''s no surprise to same-sex couples who have married in Massachusetts, where more than 10,000 gay men and lesbians have wed as opposition to gay marriage has withered in the state legislature and in public opinion polls.

"We travel often and haven''t received negative feedback from anybody," said Marilyn Watson-Etsell, 66, a retired teacher in Orleans, Massachusetts, who married her partner of eight years, Karen, in 2004. She said the marriage makes her feel accepted by society and, more crucially, allows her to share her health insurance with Karen, who has battled cancer on-and-off since 1994.

"When we travel people ask us if we are married and we say yes and that it''s a same-sex marriage. Usually they say ''oh you''re the first ones we''ve met''. If there are folks who are not pleased they have kept it to themselves."

Both Massachusetts and Connecticut allow out-of-state same-sex couples to marry, a legal nuance businesses hope will translate into a multimillion-dollar benefit in tourism and weddings following California''s ban.