The court ruled in an 85-page decision issued at 11:30 a.m. Friday that Connecticut officials had "failed to establish adequate reason to justify the statutory ban on same sex marriage," the Boston Globe reported Friday.

The majority opinion issued in Kerrigan vs. the state Commissioner of Public Health said the justices recognized "as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did in Goodridge vs. Dept. of Public Health … that 'our decision marks a change in the history of our marriage law.'" Massachusetts and California courts have approved gay marriages.

The eight same-sex couples that brought the dispute to court argued that the civil union law in the state was discriminatory and unconstitutional because it established a separate and therefore inherently unequal institution for a minority group.

"In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry," the majority opinion, written by Justice Richard Palmer, stated.