HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Connecticut has issued its first licenses for "civil unions," becoming the third state to offer same-sex couples a legal way to unite.
Twenty-six couples visited Hartford's City Hall Saturday to get licenses for the unions, which offer the same benefits as traditional marriage under state law, The Washington Post reported.
Several blocks away, a few dozen opponents of civil unions held a protest.
"This is a tragic day for our state's children," said Brian Brown, whose organization, the Family Institute of Connecticut, contends that children develop best in a household with heterosexual parents. He called for a constitutional amendment eliminating same-sex unions.
Connecticut was the first state whose Legislature approved gay unions on its own. Vermont and Massachusetts were forced to change their laws by order of their state supreme courts.
The newspaper said it was difficult to gauge the number of couples who received licenses Saturday because the state government and many town halls were closed for the weekend.
A spokesman for New Haven said 10 couples applied for licenses at his town hall.
