Connecticut's Supreme Court struck a blow to civil unions this month.

Activists and politicians have long decried the "separate, but equal" institution, but the Connecticut decision put unions' deficiency in stark relief, concluding, "…Because the institution of marriage carries it it a status and significance that the newly crated classification of civil unions does not embody, the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm."

With that ruling, Vermont's progressive leaders are looking to break their own "civil" bonds.

That state passed civil unions eight years ago, when the political climate was far more foreboding, but are feeling rejuvenated and ready to roar into the future to institute gay marriage there:

"I feel the landscape has changed, especially from eight years ago," said Rep. Mark Larson, D-Burlington, who was the lead sponsor of a gay marriage bill during the last legislative session. "I don't think we'll see the divisiveness that we saw before. Vermont has come a long way since then."

With more than two months before the start of the new legislative session and an election coming next month, advocates and lawmakers were mum on who might be major players in this discussion and what the main strategy to pass such a bill would look like.

"I haven't been talking strategy with anyone yet," said Rep. Jason Lorber, D-Burlington, a co-sponsor of Larson's gay marriage bill. "But I expect it will come up next year and I certainly hope that we pass it."

The big difference between Vermont and Connecticut - and, in fact, California and Massachusetts - could be that lawmakers take the reins on this one, rather than leaving it to the court. If that happens, the state would be the first to legislatively pass gay marriage, thus poking holes in that tired, old "activist judges" argument the right likes so much.

There's more wedding chatter for Cynthia Nixon and her lucky-duck girlfriend, Christine Marinoni. The Sex and The City actress admitted to UK Mirror that she and her lady love are searching for some legally-recognized nuptials:

If it becomes legal I think we would… It's something my girlfriend is interested in and it was not something my boyfriend ever was.

I think that to get married to her would be a little act of rebellion. It's like if you've never had the vote and then you get it you're going to run out there and vote.

I always avoided marriage in the past and was always very wary of it. I felt like it was potentially a trap. People sometimes want the party, the gifts and the public celebration of this big love - they're excited about that rather than about the lifetime commitment. So I always steered clear of it.

Rumors have been swirling that the gals already have plans to tie the knot in Vermont, land of the lesbian.

Remember Benoit Denizet-Lewis' lengthy exploration of young gay marrieds in Sunday's New York Times?

Well, the journalist got flack for only profiling white, middle-class, educated men, which led some to wonder whether he simply chose to ignore people of color.

Tired of whispers and murmurs, Denizet-Lewis sent out an email earlier this afternoon and tried to clear things up.

He's not a racist, you see, but simply couldn't find any black people! In fact, there aren't many black marrieds to be found, he says - after the jump, of course.

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Cynthia Nixon's 2006 bout with breast cancer reportedly spurred her to start planning a lesbian wedding:

…The experience has prompted lesbian Nixon's desire to cement her union to [Chris] Marinoni with an official declaration of the couple's commitment to one another.

A source tells the National Enquirer, "Cynthia and Chris want a quiet autumn ceremony in Vermont under the red leaves. It's supposed to be a very low-key gathering, just for close friends and family."

One can never be quite sure what to make of Enquirer based stories, but we're hoping this one's true. We love a wedding, especially when it's of the homo variety.

Civil unions took another hit today. Two months after a New Jersey commission found them flawed, a similar group in Vermont released a report that "stopped short" of endorsing marriage. The move's particularly important because Vermont started the civil union craze back in 2000, when it became the first state in the nation to pass the pseudo-nuptial laws.

The report, released yesterday, makes it pretty clear that Vermont needs some matrimonial reforms:

"It is the role of Vermont's policy-makers and elected officials to read and reflect on this report and in their best judgment determine what steps to take in their role as public servants of the people of Vermont," it said.

But in its findings the commission said "such a change in the law would give access (to same-sex couples) to less tangible incidents of marriage, including its terminology (e.g. marriage, wedding, married, celebration, divorce), and its social cultural and historical significance."

It added that full same-sex marriage "would likely enhance the portability of the underlying legal consequences of the status. … The tangible same-sex marriage benefits … raise serious questions about the operation of the civil union law and warrant additional research and serious attention."

The commission drew its conclusions after holding eight public hearings across the state. Despite this study, a number of social conservatives are gearing up to launch a state referendum on the matter. Because redundancy is God's work, right?

A group of anti-gay marriage activists appeared at University of Vermont this weekend - and they weren't very welcome. The freshly formed Vermont Marriage Advisory Council wanted to spread their straight-laced message, but the left-leaning audience didn't want to hear it.

"It's nonsensical that marriage can't have multiple meanings," Paul Deslandes of Burlington told Stewart and Fagan. "That's simply scare tactics."
…
Responding to controversy on campus caused by the appearance of Cable's group, UVM President Daniel Fogel issued a letter to the campus on Friday saying he had "deep empathy for those who are affronted by the ideas and positions opposing gay marriage," but added that the university cannot "practice selective exclusion of certain points of view."

Those points of view included Monte Stewart's short-sighted assertion: "Marriage is a vital social institution. There's a reason that marriage as an institution is virtually universal around the world."

It's a big day for Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee! Chief of Staff Leah Daughtry takes the stand today in the ongoing discrimination discovery hearings. Daughtry allegedly asked former staffer Donald Hitchcock to resign after Hitchcock's boyfriend, Paul Yandura wrote an open letter criticizing the DNC.

Confused? Yeah, we are, too. That's why we've compiled a list of all the witnesses testifying during the case's discovery period. Get to know the DNC players, because you may be hearing a whole lot more from them.

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• Alright, we're willing to forgive The View's Sherri Shepard for not knowing whether the world's flat, but we're absolutely astonished that Shepard forgot that Patti LaBelle's black.

• Out's Shana Krochmal talks to Panic At The Disco. Note the lack of exclamation!

• Writer's strike be damned! AfterElton launches Gay People's Choice Awards:

We're asking you to vote on your favorites in the traditional movie, television, music, and internet categories, but at the end we've included several gay-specific categories that you won't find covered anywhere else this awards season!

Vote like your life depends on it!

• Gay panic strikes Kentucky after b-ballers partake in celebratory kiss.

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Some New Englanders are all sorts of scared following New Hampshire's civil union activation. First the Civic Christian League of Maine came out against queer commitments, now the newly formed Vermont Marriage Advisory Council plans to hold "public hearings" celebrating traditional marriage.

"Stephen Cable of Rutland, the founder of the conservative group Vermont Renewal, said the formation of this traditional marriage council is in response to what he says is the pro-gay marriage leanings of the Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection.

"The council will be holding forums to delegate information on the social goods that come with the institution of marriage," Cable said Monday afternoon. "After that, the council will open up the microphone to hear from Vermonters."

Tom Little of the original Commission says that he and his peers will "be focused on completing the public hearings we have scheduled." He also said they they always encourage "one and all" to come to their hearings.

What is wrong with kids these days?! Two Vermont teen sisters have been charged with a hate crime after slashing and tagging a gay couple's cars. What's worse, one of the girls is related to one of the owners!

Two sisters are being charged with a hate crime for spray painting anti-gay slogans and slashing the tires of the vehicles belonging to two men joined in a civil union.

Police say 16-year-old Melissa Gaboury and 18-year-old Meghan Gaboury are due in court Wednesday to answer charges of a hate crime, unlawful mischief and unlawful trespass.

Police say the sisters are distant relatives of 1 of the victims
…
[They also say] the Gaboury sisters had "increasingly volatile interactions" with the alleged victims.

In addition to scrawling "faggot" on one of the cars, the girls also employed anti-gay epithets in their police interviews. Charming.

Not all Vermonters are peace loving hippies…

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• AIDS ignorance confounds us, because AIDS has officially been ravaging the globe for over 25-years. People should know it exists. And, more importantly, they should know how to prevent it. The staggering dearth of readily available, government-provided information, of course, leads to bizarre cultural coping, as in Papua New Guinea:

Some people with HIV/Aids in Papua New Guinea are being buried alive by their relatives, a health worker says.

Margaret Marabe said families were taking the extreme action because they could no longer look after sufferers or feared catching the disease themselves.

Ms Marabe said she saw the "live burials" with her own eyes during a five-month trip to PNG's remote Southern Highlands.

We know it can be hard getting out to the rural areas, but the government may want to invest in a helicopter or something. Or, rather, they should have already done that. They known about the worrisome HIV rate for quite a while.

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