Yet another example of separate but "equal"...

So to-day Connecticut jumped on the civil union bandwagon. I'm pleased that the legislation passed, but I'm afraid that it just doesn't make me want to dance with glee.

According to a report on Newsday.com by Susan Haigh from the Associated Press, "The legislation grants gay and lesbian couples the same rights, privileges and obligations as married couples in Connecticut, but does not allow them to wed."

In other words, separate and equal. Didn't the Supreme Court find the policy of separate but equal to be inherently unequal in the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954? Granted, Chief Justice Warren was writing with regard to public education but his words hold true here, "To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone." Just replace the word "race" with "sexual orientation" and it becomes apparent that the gay and lesbian community is being deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.