Access to quality affordable health care top’s Wednesday’s agenda followed by the gay marriage debate. The legislature’s Public Health Committee will hold a public hearing on universal health care starting at 10 a.m. in room 2C of the Legislative Office Building. Also at 10 a.m. the Family Institute of Connecticut will talk about its opposition to gay marriage and at 11 a.m. Judiciary Committee Co-Chairs Senator Andrew McDonald and Rep. Michael Lawlor will talk about their support for the measure. The governor said last week that she would veto any gay marriage bill because marriage is between a man and a woman.
Eight same sex couples have been fighting for the right to marry since 2004. Their court case did not disappear when the legislature adopted civil unions because they say civil unions created a separate and not equal legal regime. Their case was filed in the state Supreme Court this past November. Seven states approved bans on gay marriage in November, bringing the number of states with such bans to 27.Later in the afternoon Speaker James Amann will hold a press conference with former NFL player Joe Ehrmann to discuss a statewide youth program titled “Coaching for Life: Building Men and Women for Others.”