Judge Walker's stayed his historic ruling to allow its appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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The editorial page of the New York Times described Judge Walker's decision as both "an instant landmark in American legal history" and also "a stirring and eloquently reasoned denunciation of all forms of irrational discrimination, the latest link in a chain of pathbreaking decisions that permitted interracial marriages and decriminalized gay sex between consenting adults."

Victory in Connecticut

In a decision released on October 10, 2008, the Connecticut Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage and its civil union law.

These laws, the majority in a 4-3 decision ruled, violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law.

In the wide-ranging majority opinion, Justice Richard N. Palmer declared that "Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same-sex partner of their choice." He added that "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others."

Pointing out that "civil unions enjoy a lesser status in our society than marriage," Justice Palmer declared that "Ultimately, the message of the civil unions law is that what same-sex couples have is not as important or as significant as real marriage."

As in the California decision, the Connecticut Court also ruled that sexual orientation was a "suspect" category entitled to "strict scrutiny" in determining allegations of discrimination.

Three justices entered dissents from the ruling. Two of them disagreed that civil unions provided fewer rights and responsibilities than marriage and thought that the issue of marriage equality could best be resolved through the legislative process, pointing to increased public support in the state for same-sex marriage. They also argued against applying "strict scrutiny" to issues involving sexual orientation, contending that gay people have "unique and extraordinary" political power and therefore do not warrant heightened constitutional protections.

The dissent by Justice Peter Zarella argued that marriage laws dealt with procreation, which, he declared, was not a factor in gay relationships, apparently ignoring the fact that many same-sex couples have children. "The ancient definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman has its basis in biology, not bigotry," he wrote.

On November 12, 2008, at a time when glbtq communities in California and elsewhere were protesting against the passage of Proposition 8, gay and lesbian couples in Connecticut began exercising their right to marry.

On April 23, 2009 the Connecticut legislature voted to replace the gendered language of its marriage laws with genderless terms and to make all references to marriage gender-neutral. Governor Jodi Rell signed the law. This legislation brought the state into compliance with the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality.