Conn. issuing same-sex marriage licenses

HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Connecticut began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, an act eclipsed by Election Day ballot measures in three other states barring gay marriages.

Voters in California, Arizona and Florida approved constitutional amendments prohibiting gay marriage.

Same-sex marriage arrived in Connecticut more than four years after it came to Massachusetts, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Wednesday. They are the only U.S. states where gays can legally marry.

Among the first gay couples to wed were Peg Oliveira and Jennifer Vickery, The New York Times reported. With their 3-month-old daughter, friends and reporters on hand outside the Hartford City Hall, they exchanged vows and rings, and then a kiss.

Oliveira said they had been a couple for four years but had decided not to enter a civil union.

"We decided that we wanted to hold out for the real thing," she said.

Robin and Barbara Levine-Ritterman, who were among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the legalization of same-sex marriages, picked up a marriage license but will hold off getting married, the Times said.

"We're thinking about doing it in May," said Robin Levine-Ritterman, 49, an naturopathic physician and acupuncturist. "But we really wanted to be part of this historic first."