Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health

957 A.2d 407, 289 Conn. 135

• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut
• Decided: October 28, 2008
• Docket: SC 17716
• Status: Published

Opinions

Opinion

PALMER, J.

The issue presented by this case is whether the state statutory prohibition against same sex marriage violates the constitution of Connecticut. The plaintiffs, eight same sex couples, commenced this action, claiming that the state statutory prohibition against same sex marriage violates their rights to substantive due process and equal protection under the state constitution. The trial court rendered summary judgment in favor of the defendant state and local officials upon determining that, because this state’s statutes afford same sex couples the right to enter into a civil union, which affords them the same legal rights as marriage, the plaintiffs had not established a constitutionally cognizable harm. We conclude that, in light of the history of pernicious discrimination faced by gay men and lesbians,¹ and because the institution of marriage carries with it a status and significance that the newly created classification of civil unions does not embody, the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm. We also conclude that (1) our state scheme discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, (2) for the same reasons that classifications predicated on gender are considered quasi-suspect for purposes of the equal protection provisions of the United States constitution, sexual orientation constitutes a quasi-suspect classification for purposes of the equal protection provisions of the state constitution, and, therefore, our statutes discriminating against gay persons are subject to heightened or intermediate judicial scrutiny, and (3) the state has failed to provide sufficient justification for excluding same sex couples from the institution of marriage. In light of our determination that the state’s disparate treatment of same sex couples is constitutionally deficient under an intermediate level of scrutiny, we do not reach the plaintiffs’ claims implicating a stricter standard of review, namely, that sexual orientation is a suspect classification, and that the state’s bar against same sex marriage infringes on a fundamental right in violation of due process and discriminates on the basis of sex in violation of equal protection. In accordance with our conclusion that the statutory scheme impermissibly discriminates against gay persons on account of their sexual orientation, we reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the case with direction to grant the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.

The record reveals the following undisputed facts and procedural history. On August 24, 2004, the plaintiffs,² eight same sex couples who applied for and were denied marriage licenses by the town of Madison, commenced this action, seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against the defendants, J. Robert Galvin, in his official capacity as commissioner of the state department of public health, and Dorothy Bean, in her official capacity as acting town clerk and deputy registrar of vital statistics of the town of Madison. The plaintiffs sought, inter alia, a judgment declaring that, to the extent that any statute, regulation or common-law rule precludes otherwise qualified individuals from marrying someone of the same sex, or because they are gay or lesbian couples, such statutes, regulations and common-law rules violate various provisions of the state constitution, including the due process provisions of article first, §§ 8³ and 10,⁴ and the equal protection provisions of article first, §§ 1⁵ and 20, as amended.⁶ The plaintiffs did not raise any claims under the United States constitution. The plaintiffs also sought an order directing Bean to issue a marriage license to each couple and the department of public health to register the plaintiffs’ marriages once they were performed.⁷

While the plaintiffs’ action was pending in the trial court, the legislature passed Public Acts 2005, No. 05-10, now codified at General Statutes § 46b-38aa et seq. (civil union law), which established the right of same sex partners to enter into civil unions and conferred on such unions all the rights and privileges that are granted to spouses in a marriage. See General Statutes § 46b-38nn;⁸ see also General Statutes (Sup. 2008) § 46b-38oo.⁹ Under the civil union law, however, “marriage” is defined as “the union of one man and one woman.” General Statutes § 46b-38nn. In light of this intervening statutory development, the parties narrowed the issue posed by this action to whether the civil union law and its prohibition against same sex marriage pass muster under the state constitution.

Thereafter, the parties filed cross motions for summary judgment. In support of the plaintiffs’ motion, they claimed, inter alia, that this state’s statutes governing marriage and civil unions violate the due process and equal protection provisions of the state constitution because they deprive gay persons of the fundamental right to marry the person of their choice, and because they discriminate on the basis of both sex and sexual orientation. With respect to their due process claim, the plaintiffs maintained that, because marriage is a fundamental right, the state bears the burden of demonstrating that any abridgement of the right has been narrowly tailored to effectuate a compelling state interest, a burden which, the plaintiffs contended, the state cannot meet.

With respect to their equal protection claims, the plaintiffs maintained that, by limiting marriage to the union of a man and a woman, our statutory scheme impermissibly segregates on the basis of sex in violation of the express prohibition against such treatment contained in article first, § 20, of the state constitution, as amended by article five of the amendments. The plaintiffs contended that this state’s statutes contravene the state constitutional prohibition against sex discrimination because those statutes preclude a woman from doing what a man may do, namely, marry a woman, and preclude a man from doing what a woman may do, namely, marry a man. The plaintiffs also maintained that our laws barring same sex marriage impermissibly discriminate against gay persons, who, the plaintiffs claimed, constitute a suspect class or, at the least, a quasi-suspect class, under constitutional principles of equal protection.¹⁰ In particular, the plaintiffs maintained that, because they are members of a suspect or quasi-suspect class, the state cannot discriminate against them in the absence of an exceptionally strong justification for doing so, a justification that the plaintiffs contended does not exist.

In support of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, they asserted that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate that they have suffered any harm as a result of the statutory bar against same sex marriage because, under the civil union law, gay persons are entitled to all of the rights that married couples enjoy. The defendants also maintained that this state’s ban on same sex marriage does not deprive the plaintiffs of a fundamental right because, since ancient times, marriage has been understood to be the union of a man and a woman, and only such rights that are “deeply rooted in this [njation’s history and tradition . . . and implicit in the concept of ordered liberty” are deemed to be fundamental. (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 721, 117 S. Ct. 2258, 138 L. Ed. 2d 772 (1997). The defendants contended that, in light of the universally understood definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the right that the plaintiffs were asserting, namely, the right to marry “any person of one’s choosing,” is not a fundamental right.

The defendants also asserted that our statutory scheme does not discriminate on the basis of sex because, inter alia, it does not single out men or women as a class for disparate treatment, the touchstone of any sex discrimination claim. Those laws also do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, the defendants maintained, because gay persons are not prohibited from marrying. According to the defendants, our laws are facially neutral because they treat homosexual and heterosexual persons alike by providing that anyone who wishes to marry may do so with a person of the opposite sex.

Finally, the defendants asserted that, even if the statutory definition of marriage as an opposite sex union does discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, nothing in the text or history of article first, § 1, and article first, § 20, as amended by articles five and twenty-one of the amendments, supports the conclusion that the drafters of those provisions intended to extend special protection to gay persons as a suspect or quasi-suspect class. On the contrary, the defendants maintained that, because sexual orientation is not one of the eight categories enumerated in article first, § 20, of the state constitution, as amended, namely, religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex, and physical or mental disability, it must be presumed that that provision does not afford enhanced protection to persons on the basis of their sexual orientation. The defendants finally maintained that our statutory scheme does not run afoul of the state constitution’s equal protection provisions because it bears a rational relationship to a legitimate state purpose, the test that the defendants asserted is applicable to the determination of whether that scheme passes muster under the equal protection provisions of the state constitution.

The trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, 49 Conn. Sup. 644, 667, 909 A.2d 89 (2006). The trial court concluded that the plaintiffs could not establish “that they have suffered any legal harm that rises to constitutional magnitude”; id., 646; because “[t]he effect of [the civil union law] has been to create an identical set of legal rights in Connecticut for same sex couples and opposite sex couples.” Id., 655. The trial court further observed that, if the legislature had not passed the civil union law while the plaintiffs’ case was pending before it, the court then would have been required to undertake a traditional constitutional analysis of their claims. Id., 654. The court reasoned, however, that the passage of the civil union law had rendered that analysis unnecessary because the plaintiffs no longer could establish that the laws of the state, either on their face or as applied, treat same sex couples differently than opposite sex couples. See id., 655, 658-59. In so concluding, the trial court expressly rejected the plaintiffs’ claim that the legislature’s “creation of the civil union for same sex couples, while retaining the status of marriage for opposite sex couples, has the effect of creating for them a legal institution of lesser status.” Id., 658. The court explained: “[Although] the plaintiffs may feel themselves to be relegated to a second class status, there is nothing in the text of the Connecticut statutes that can be read to place the plaintiffs there.” Id.

On appeal,¹¹ the plaintiffs challenge the trial court’s determination that Connecticut’s civil union law does not discriminate against gay persons because same sex couples who have entered into a civil union are entitled to the same legal rights under state law as married couples. The plaintiffs also renew the various state constitutional claims that they raised in the trial court. We conclude, first, that the trial court improperly determined that the distinction between civil unions and marriage is constitutionally insignificant merely because a same sex couple who enters into a civil union enjoys the same legal rights as an opposite sex couple who enters into a marriage. We also conclude that our statutory scheme governing marriage impermissibly discriminates against gay persons on the basis of their sexual orientation.

I

DECISION OF THE TRIAL COURT

We first address the plaintiffs’ contention that the trial court improperly granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate any legally cognizable or actionable harm by virtue of the fact that the legislature had established two separate and distinct classifications for couples who wish to be recognized by the law, one limited to same sex couples and one limited to opposite sex couples. The trial court predicated its determination on the fact that a couple who enters into a civil union has the same legal rights under state law as a couple who enters into a marriage. The court reasoned that the difference in labels afforded marriage and civil unions is not, in itself, sufficient to trigger an analysis of the constitutionality of that statutory scheme as applied to same sex couples.

The plaintiffs challenge the trial court’s conclusion that the distinction between marriage and civil unions is merely one of nomenclature. They contend that marriage is not simply a term denominating a bundle of legal rights. Rather, they contend that it is an institution of unique and enduring importance in our society, one that carries with it a special status. The plaintiffs therefore contend that their claim of unequal treatment cannot be dismissed solely because same sex couples who enter into a civil union enjoy the same rights under state law as married couples. The plaintiffs also claim that we must consider the legislature’s decision to create civil unions for same sex couples in the context of the historical condemnation and discrimination that gay persons have suffered.¹² We agree with the plaintiffs that, despite the legislature’s recent establishment of civil unions, the restriction of marriage to opposite sex couples implicates the constitutional rights of gay persons who wish to marry a person of the same sex.¹³

A cognizable constitutional claim arises whenever the government singles out a group for differential treatment. The legislature has subjected gay persons to precisely that kind of differential treatment by creating a separate legal classification for same sex couples who, like opposite sex couples, wish to have their relationship recognized under the law. Put differently, the civil union law entitles same sex couples to all of the same rights as married couples except one, that is, the freedom to marry, a right that “has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men [and women]” and “fundamental to our very existence and survival.” Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 12, 87 S. Ct. 1817, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1010 (1967). Indeed, marriage has been characterized as “intimate to the degree of being sacred”; Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 486, 85 S. Ct. 1678, 14 L. Ed. 2d 510 (1965); see also Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 96, 107 S. Ct. 2254, 96 L. Ed. 2d 64 (1987) (“many religions recognize marriage as having spiritual significance”); and “an institution more basic in our civilization than any other.” Williams v. North Carolina, 317 U.S. 287, 303, 63 S. Ct. 207, 87 L. Ed. 279 (1942). Marriage, therefore, is not merely shorthand for a discrete set of legal rights and responsibilities but is “one of the most fundamental of human relationships . . . .” Davis v. Davis, 119 Conn. 194, 203, 175 A. 574 (1934). “Marriage . . . bestows enormous private and social advantages on those who choose to marry. Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. . . . Because it fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution . . . .” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 440 Mass. 309, 322, 798 N.E.2d 941 (2003).

Especially in light of the long and undisputed history of invidious discrimination that gay persons have suffered; see part V A of this opinion; we cannot discount the plaintiffs’ assertion that the legislature, in establishing a statutory scheme consigning same sex couples to civil unions, has relegated them to an inferior status, in essence, declaring them to be unworthy of the institution of marriage. In other words, “[b]y excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage, the [s]tate declares that it is legitimate to differentiate between their commitments and the commitments of heterosexual couples. Ultimately, the message is that what same-sex couples have is not as important or as significant as ‘real’ marriage, that such lesser relationships cannot have the name of marriage.”¹⁴ Lewis v. Harris, 188 N.J. , 908 A.2d 196 (2006) (Poritz, C. J., concurring and dissenting); see also In re Marriage Cases, 43 Cal. 4th 757, 830-31, 183 P.3d 384, 76 Cal. Rptr. 3d 683 (2008) (“[t]he current statutes—by drawing a distinction between the name assigned to the family relationship available to opposite-sex couples and the name assigned to the family relationship available to same-sex couples, and by reserving the historic and highly respected designation of marriage exclusively to opposite-sex couples while offering same-sex couples only the new and unfamiliar designation of domestic partnership—pose a serious risk of denying the official family relationship of same-sex couples the equal dignity and respect that is a core element of the constitutional right to marry”); Opinions of the Justices to the Senate, 440 Mass. 1201, 1207, 802 N.E.2d 565 (2004) (“[t]he dissimilitude between the terms ‘civil marriage’ and ‘civil union’ is not innocuous; it is a considered choice of language that reflects a demonstrable assigning of same-sex, largely homosexual, couples to second-class status”). Although the legislature has determined that same sex couples are entitled to “all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities . . . [that] are granted to spouses in a marriage”; General Statutes § 46b-38nn; the legislature nonetheless created an entirely separate and distinct legal entity for same sex couples even though it readily could have made those same rights available to same sex couples by permitting them to marry. In view of the exalted status of marriage in our society, it is hardly surprising that civil unions are perceived to be inferior to marriage. We therefore agree with the plaintiffs that “[maintaining a second-class citizen status for same-sex couples by excluding them from the institution of civil marriage is the constitutional infirmity at issue.”¹⁵ (Emphasis in original.) Opinions of the Justices to the Senate, supra, 1209.

Accordingly, we reject the trial court’s conclusion that marriage and civil unions are “separate” but “equal” legal entities; Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, supra, 49 Conn. Sup. 664; and that it therefore “would be the elevation of form over substance”; id., 667; to conclude that the constitutional rights of same sex couples are implicated by a statutory scheme that restricts them to civil unions. Although marriage and civil unions do embody the same legal rights under our law, they are by no means “equal.” As we have explained, the former is an institution of transcendent historical, cultural and social significance, whereas the latter most surely is not. Even though the classifications created under our statutory scheme result in a type of differential treatment that generally may be characterized as symbolic or intangible, this court correctly has stated that such treatment nevertheless “is every bit as restrictive as naked exclusions”; Evening Sentinel v. National Organization for Women, 168 Conn. 26, 35, 357 A.2d 498 (1975); because it is no less real than more tangible forms of discrimination, at least when, as in the present case, the statute singles out a group that historically has been the object of scorn, intolerance, ridicule or worse.

We do not doubt that the civil union law was designed to benefit same sex couples by providing them with legal rights that they previously did not have. If, however, the intended effect of a law is to treat politically unpopular or historically disfavored minorities differently from persons in the majority or favored class, that law cannot evade constitutional review under the separate but equal doctrine. See, e.g., Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 495, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954); cf. In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 830-31; Opinions of the Justices to the Senate, supra, 440 Mass. 1209. In such circumstances, the very existence of the classification gives credence to the perception that separate treatment is warranted for the same illegitimate reasons that gave rise to the past discrimination in the first place. Despite the truly laudable effort of the legislature in equalizing the legal rights afforded same sex and opposite sex couples, there is no doubt that civil unions enjoy a lesser status in our society than marriage.¹⁶ We therefore conclude that the plaintiffs have alleged a constitutionally cognizable injury, that is, the denial of the right to marry a same sex partner. We next must determine whether the state’s differential treatment of same sex and opposite sex couples nevertheless satisfies state constitutional requirements.

II

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Certain general principles govern our review of the plaintiffs’ state constitutional claim. First, “[t]he constitutionality of a statute presents a question of law over which our review is plenary. ... It [also] is well established that a validly enacted statute carries with it a strong presumption of constitutionality, [and that] those who challenge its constitutionality must sustain the heavy burden of proving its unconstitutionality beyond a reasonable doubt. . . . The court will indulge in every presumption in favor of the statute’s constitutionality .... Therefore, [w]hen a question of constitutionality is raised, courts must approach it with caution, examine it with care, and sustain the legislation unless its invalidity is clear.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. McKenzie-Adams, 281 Conn. 486, 500, 915 A.2d 822, cert. denied, 522 U.S. 888, 128 S. Ct. 248, 169 L. Ed. 2d 148 (2007).

Moreover, “[i]t is beyond debate that federal constitutional and statutory law establishes a minimum national standard for the exercise of individual rights and does not inhibit state governments from affording higher levels of protection for such rights.” (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Morales, 232 Conn. 707, 716, 657 A.2d 585 (1995), quoting State v. Barton, 219 Conn. 529, 546, 594 A.2d 917 (1991). In determining that our state constitution in some instances provides greater protection than that provided by the federal constitution, “we have recognized that [i]n the area of fundamental civil liberties— which includes all protections of the declaration of rights contained in article first of the Connecticut constitution—we sit as a court of last resort, subject only to the qualification that our interpretations may not restrict the guarantees accorded the national citizenry under the federal charter.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Morales, supra, 717; see also Ramos v. Vernon, 254 Conn. 799, 827, 761 A.2d 705 (2000) (“depending [on] the facts and-circumstances, the state constitution may afford greater protection than the federal constitution with regard to equal protection claims”). Therefore, although we may follow the analytical approach taken by courts construing the federal constitution, our use of that approach for purposes of the state constitution will not necessarily lead to the same result as that arrived at under the federal constitution. See, e.g., State v. Marsala, 216 Conn. 150, 151, 159-61, 579 A.2d 58 (1990) (rejecting “good faith” exception to search warrant requirement for purposes of state constitution despite United States Supreme Court’s adoption of that exception for purposes of federal constitution).

Furthermore, we are mindful that state “[constitutional provisions must be interpreted within the context of the times. . . . ‘We must interpret the constitution in accordance with the demands of modem society or it will be in constant danger of becoming atrophied and, in fact, may even lose its original meaning.’ ... [A] constitution is, in [former United States Supreme Court] Chief Justice John Marshall’s words, ‘intended to endure for ages to come . . . and, consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs.’ . . . [McCulloch] v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 415, 4 L. Ed. 579 (1819). . . . ‘In short, the [state] constitution was not intended to be a static document incapable of coping with changing times. It was meant to be, and is, a living document with current effectiveness.’ . . . The Connecticut constitution is an instrument of progress, it is intended to stand for a great length of time and should not be interpreted too narrowly or too literally so that it fails to have contemporary effectiveness for all of our citizens.” (Citations omitted; emphasis in original.) State v. Dukes, 209 Conn. 98, 114-15, 547 A.2d 10 (1988).

Finally, in State v. Geisler, 222 Conn. 672, 685, 610 A.2d 1225 (1992), we set forth six factors that, to the extent applicable, are to be considered in construing the contours of our state constitution so that we may reach reasoned and principled results as to its meaning. These factors are: (1) the text of the operative constitutional provision; (2) holdings and dicta of this court and the Appellate Court; (3) persuasive and relevant federal precedent; (4) persuasive sister state decisions; (5) the history of the operative constitutional provision, including the historical constitutional setting and the debates of the framers; and (6) contemporary economic and sociological considerations, including relevant public policies. Id. Although, in Geisler, “we compartmentalized the factors that should be considered in order to stress that a systematic analysis is required, we recognize that they may be inextricably interwoven. . . . [Moreover], not every Geisler factor is relevant in all cases.” (Citation omitted.) State v. Morales, supra, 232 Conn. 716 n. 10. Accordingly, our equal protection analysis is informed by any of those Geisler factors that may be relevant to that analysis.¹⁷

Ill

EQUAL PROTECTION ANALYSIS GENERALLY

“[T]he concept of equal protection [under both the state and federal constitutions] has been traditionally viewed as requiring the uniform treatment of persons standing in the same relation to the governmental action questioned or challenged.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Matos, 240 Conn. 743, 760, 694 A.2d 775 (1997); see also Stuart v. Commissioner of Correction, 266 Conn. 596, 601, 834 A.2d 52 (2003) (constitutional right of equal protection “is essentially a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike” [internal quotation marks omitted]). “Conversely, the equal protection clause places no restrictions on the state’s authority to treat dissimilar persons in a dissimilar manner. . . . Thus, [t]o implicate the equal protection [clause] ... it is necessary that the state statute ... in question, either on its face or in practice, treat persons standing in the same relation to it differently. . . . [Accordingly], the analytical predicate [of an equal protection claim] is a determination of who are the persons [purporting to be] similarly situated. . . . The similarly situated inquiry focuses on whether the [plaintiff is] similarly situated to another group for purposes of the challenged government action. . . . Thus, [t]his initial inquiry is not whether persons are similarly situated for all purposes, but whether they are similarly situated for purposes of the law challenged.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Stuart v. Commissioner of Correction, supra, 601-602; see also City Recycling, Inc. v. State, 257 Conn. 429, 448, 778 A.2d 77 (2001).

“This court has held, in accordance with the federal constitutional framework of analysis, that ‘in areas of social and economic policy that neither proceed along suspect lines nor infringe fundamental constitutional rights, the [e]qual [protection [c]lause is satisfied [as] long as there is a plausible policy reason for the classification, see United States Railroad Retirement [Board] v. Fritz, 449 U.S. 166, 174, 179 [101 S. Ct. 453, 66 L. Ed. 2d 368] (1980), the legislative facts on which the classification is apparently based rationally may have been considered to be true by the governmental decisionmaker, see Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co., 449 U.S. 456, 464 [101 S. Ct. 715, 66 L. Ed. 2d 659] (1981), and the relationship of the classification to its goal is not so attenuated as to render the distinction arbitrary or irrational, see Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 U.S. [432, 446, 105 S. Ct. 3249, 87 L. Ed. 2d 313 (1985)].’ . . . Hammond v. Commissioner of Correction, 259 Conn. 855, 885, 792 A.2d 774 (2002); accord Luce v. United Technologies Corp., 247 Conn. 126, 144, 717 A.2d 747 (1998). ‘If, however, state action invidiously discriminates against a suspect class or affects a fundamental right, the action passes constitutional muster . . . only if it survives strict scrutiny.’ Daly v. DelPonte, 225 Conn. 499, 513, 624 A.2d 876 (1993). Under that heightened standard, ‘the state must demonstrate that the challenged statute is necessary to the achievement of a compelling state interest.’ ” Rayhall v. Akim Co., 263 Conn. 328, 342-43, 819 A.2d 803 (2003).

Although the federal constitution does not expressly enumerate any suspect classes, the United States Supreme Court has identified three such classifications, namely, race, alienage and national origin. Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 440. In contrast to the federal constitution, the state constitution identifies certain inherently suspect classifications. See, e.g., Daly v. DelPonte, supra, 225 Conn. 513-14. These classifications, which are set forth in article first, § 20, of the Connecticut constitution, as amended by articles five and twenty-one of the amendments, include religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex, physical disability and mental disability. Because the members of those classes have been deemed to be “especially subject to discrimination”; id., 515; their “rights are protected by requiring encroachments on [those] rights to pass a strict scrutiny test.” Id., 514.

Additionally, for purposes of federal equal protection analysis, the United States Supreme Court also “has developed an intermediate level of scrutiny that lies [b]etween [the] extremes of rational basis review and strict scrutiny. Clark v. Jeter, 486 U.S. 456, 461, 108 S. Ct. 1910, 100 L. Ed. 2d 465 (1988). Intermediate scrutiny typically is used to review laws that employ quasi-suspect classifications . . . such as gender, Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 197, 97 S. Ct. 451, 50 L. Ed. 2d 397 (1976), or [illegitimacy, Mills v. Habluetzel, 456 U.S. 91, 98-99, 102 S. Ct. 1549, 71 L. Ed. 2d 770 (1982). On occasion intermediate scrutiny has been applied to review of a law that affects an important, though not constitutional, right. [United States v. Coleman, 166 F.3d 428, 431 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1138, 119 S. Ct. 1794, 143 L. Ed. 2d 1201 (1999)]; cf. Plyler [v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 223, 102 S. Ct. 2382, 72 L. Ed. 2d 786 (1982)] (applying, without labeling it as such, an intermediate form of scrutiny to review a law that implicated right to education). Under intermediate scrutiny, the government must show that the challenged legislative enactment is substantially related to an important governmental interest.”¹⁸ (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Ramos v. Vernon, 353 F.3d 171, 175 (2d Cir. 2003).

This court also has determined that, for purposes of the state constitution, “[the] two-tier analysis of the law of equal protection . . . that distinguishes only between legislation requiring strict scrutiny, which typically fails to pass constitutional muster, and legislation requiring a rational basis, which typically does pass, is not sufficiently precise to resolve all cases. Legislation that involves rights that may be significant, though not fundamental, or classifications that are sensitive, though not suspect, may demand some form of intermediate review.” Eielson v. Parker, 179 Conn. 552, 564, 427 A.2d 814 (1980); see also Daly v. DelPonte, supra, 225 Conn. 513 (identifying three levels of scrutiny for equal protection purposes); cf. Contractor’s Supply of Waterbury, LLC v. Commissioner of Environmental Protection, 283 Conn. 86, 103, 925 A.2d 1071 (2007) (“our own case law and precedent . . . support the conclusion that, when [legislation] does not impact a fundamental right, a suspect class or a [quasi-suspect] class, our state constitution generally mandates [a rational basis] level of scrutiny”). In Carofano v. Bridgeport, 196 Conn. 623, 495 A.2d 1011 (1985), which, like the present case, involved a claim under the equal protection provisions of the state constitution, we further explained: “Courts have tended to depart from the minimal standard [when] the interests affected by the governmental restriction are sufficiently elevated in the hierarchy of social values and to devise various formulae less rigid than the compelling state interest criterion that essentially necessitate balancing private against governmental concerns with varying degrees of deference to legislative judgment. . . .

“Situations triggering . . . intermediate review, other than sensitive classifications relating to stereotypes or disadvantaged minorities, have usually involved a significant interference with liberty or the denial of benefits considered to be vital to the individual.” (Citations omitted.) Id., 641-42. We therefore apply the same three-tiered equal protection methodology that is applied under the federal equal protection clause for purposes of our state constitution.

The defendants contend that the plaintiffs’ equal protection claim does not satisfy two threshold equal protection principles. Specifically, the defendants contend, first, that same sex couples are not similarly situated to opposite sex couples and, second, that the classes enumerated in article first, § 20, of the state constitution, as amended, constitute an exclusive list of protected groups. We reject each of these claims.

With respect to their first claim, the defendants assert that the plaintiffs are not similarly situated to opposite sex couples, thereby obviating the need for this court to engage in an equal protection analysis, “because the conduct that they seek to engage in—marrying someone of the same sex—is fundamentally different from the conduct in which opposite sex couples seek to engage.” We disagree. It is true, of course, that the plaintiffs differ from persons who choose to marry a person of the opposite sex insofar as each of the plaintiffs seeks to marry a person of the same sex. Otherwise, however, the plaintiffs can meet the same statutory eligibility requirements applicable to persons who seek to marry, including restrictions related to public safety, such as age; see General Statutes § 46b-30; and consanguinity. See General Statutes § 46b-21. The plaintiffs also share the same interest in a committed and loving relationship as heterosexual persons who wish to marry, and they share the same interest in having a family and raising their children in a loving and supportive environment. Indeed, the legislature itself recognized the overriding similarities between same sex and opposite sex couples when, upon passage of the civil union law, it granted same sex couples the same legal rights that married couples enjoy. We therefore agree with the California Supreme Court and conclude that the defendants’ contention that same sex and opposite sex couples are not similarly situated clearly lacks merit. “[B]oth [same sex and opposite sex couples] consist of pairs of individuals who wish to enter into a formal, legally binding and officially recognized, long-term family relationship that affords the same rights and privileges and imposes the same obligations and responsibilities. Under these circumstances, there is no question but that these two categories of individuals are sufficiently similar to bring into play equal protection principles that require a court to determine whether distinctions between the two groups justify the unequal treatment.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 831 n.54; see also Lewis v. Harris, supra, 188 N.J. 448, 451 (same sex couples are similarly situated to their heterosexual counterparts); Baker v. State, 170 Vt. 194, 218-19, 744 A.2d 864 (1999) (statute prohibiting marriage of same sex couples treats them differently from similarly situated opposite sex couples). In light of the multitude of characteristics that same sex and opposite sex couples have in common, we conclude that the two groups are similarly situated for purposes of the plaintiffs’ equal protection challenge to the state statutory scheme governing marriage.¹⁹

The defendants also assert that, because article first, § 20, of the state constitution, as amended by articles five and twenty-one of the amendments, expressly prohibits discrimination against eight enumerated classes, no other group is entitled to any form of heightened protection under our state constitutional equal protection provisions. We also reject this assertion, first, because it is inconsistent with previous cases of this court in which we have expressed our approval of the three-tiered methodology for purposes of the equal protection provisions of the state constitution. See, e.g., Carofano v. Bridgeport, supra, 196 Conn. 641-42; Keogh v. Bridgeport, 187 Conn. 53, 66-67, 444 A.2d 225 (1982); Eielson v. Parker, supra, 179 Conn. 563-64. Indeed, we previously have observed that, although the framers’ failure expressly to include a particular group within the ambit of article first, § 20, as amended, is a relevant consideration in determining whether that group is entitled to special protection, it is not dispositive of the issue. See Moore v. Ganim, 233 Conn. 557, 597, 660 A. 2d 742 (1995). Furthermore, the history surrounding the adoption of article first, § 20, of the state constitution indicates that its drafters intended that provision to embody “the very strongest human rights principle that this convention can put forth to the people of Connecticut”; 2 Proceedings of the Connecticut Constitutional Convention (1965) p. 692, remarks of Representative James J. Kennelly; and, in accordance with that purpose, that the provision should be read expansively. See id., p. 691, remarks of former United States Representative Chase Going Woodhouse (“[w]e all realize that rights of individuals in this country have developed and have changed from time to time, and we certainly would not want to have in our [constitution any language that would in the future perhaps limit new rights”). Finally, even if we were to assume, arguendo, that the groups enumerated in article first, § 20, as amended, were intended to constitute an exhaustive list of suspect classes, the plaintiffs are not barred from recognition as a quasi-suspect class—the claim that we resolve in their favor—because the two classes are separate and distinct from one another. Indeed, under the defendants’ view, heightened protection would be available only to those classes that had marshaled the political will and popular support to secure a constitutional amendment in their favor, a result inconsistent with the rationale underlying the state constitutional equal protection provisions. We conclude, therefore, that the plaintiffs’ equal protection claim is not foreclosed merely because sexual orientation is not an enumerated classification in article first, § 20, as amended.

IV

QUASI-SUSPECT CLASSIFICATIONS UNDER THE STATE CONSTITUTION

Although this court has indicated that a group may be entitled to heightened protection under the state constitution because of its status as a quasi-suspect class, we previously have not articulated the specific criteria to be considered in determining whether recognition as a quasi-suspect class is warranted. The United States Supreme Court, however, consistently has identified two factors that must be met, for purposes of the federal constitution, if a group is to be accorded such status. These two required factors are: (1) the group has suffered a history of invidious discrimination; see United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515, 531-32, 116 S. Ct. 2264, 135 L. Ed. 2d 735 (1996); Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U.S. 307, 313, 96 S. Ct. 2562, 49 L. Ed. 2d 520 (1976); and (2) the characteristics that distinguish the group’s members bear “no relation to [their] ability to perform or contribute to society.” Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677, 686, 93 S. Ct. 1764, 36 L. Ed. 2d 583 (1973) (plurality opinion); accord Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 441; see siso Massachusetts Board of Retirements. Murgia, supra, 313 (heightened scrutiny required when group has “been subjected to unique disabilities on the basis of stereotyped characteristics not truly indicative of [the] abilities [of the group’s members]”). The United States Supreme Court also has cited two other considerations that, in a given case, may be relevant in determining whether statutory provisions pertaining to a particular group are subject to heightened scrutiny. These two additional considerations are: (1) the characteristic that defines the members of the class as a discrete group is immutable or otherwise not within their control; see, e.g., Lyng s. Castillo, 477 U.S. 635, 638, 106 S. Ct. 2727, 91 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1986) (for purposes of suspectness inquiry, relevant consideration is whether members of class “exhibit obvious, immutable, or distinguishing characteristics that define them as a discrete group”); and (2) the group is “a minority or politically powerless.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Bowen v. Gilliard, 483 U.S. 587, 602, 107 S. Ct. 3008, 97 L. Ed. 2d 485 (1987); accord Lyng s. Castillo, supra, 638; see also San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 28, 93 S. Ct. 1278, 36 L. Ed. 2d 16 (1973) (concluding that class comprised of poor families exhibits none of “traditional indicia of suspectness” because class is “not saddled with such disabilities, or subjected to such a history of purposeful unequal treatment, or relegated to such a position of political powerlessness as to command extraordinary protection from the majoritarian political process”).

To date, the United States Supreme Court has recognized two quasi-suspect classes, namely, sex; see, e.g., Frontiero s. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 686 (plurality opinion) (what “differentiates sex from such nonsuspect statuses as intelligence or physical disability . . . is that the sex characteristic frequently bears no relation to ability to perform or contribute to society”); and illegitimacy. See, e.g., Mathews v. Lucas, 427 U.S. 495, 505-506, 96 S. Ct. 2755, 49 L. Ed. 2d 651 (1976) (applying heightened scrutiny because, inter alia, illegitimacy “bears no relation to the individual’s ability to participate in and contribute to society”). The court, however, has rejected claims that the aged and the mentally disadvantaged are quasi-suspect classes, principally because the defining characteristic of each group does in fact bear a substantial relationship to the group’s ability to participate in and contribute to society. See Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 442 (mentally disadvantaged are not suspect class because, inter alia, “those who are mentally retarded have a reduced ability to cope with and function in the everyday world”); Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, supra, 427 U.S. 314-15 (upholding law requiring mandatory retirement of uniformed police officers at age fifty “[s]ince physical ability generally declines with age [and] mandatory retirement at [fifty] serves to remove from police service those whose fitness for uniformed work presumptively has diminished with age”).

Because of the evident correlation between the indicia of suspectness identified by the United States Supreme Court and the issue of whether a class that has been singled out by the state for unequal treatment is entitled to heightened protection under the federal constitution, we conclude that those factors also are pertinent to the determination of whether a group comprises a quasi-suspect class for purposes of the state constitution. It bears emphasis, however, that the United States Supreme Court has placed far greater weight—indeed, it invariably has placed dispositive weight—on the first two factors, that is, whether the group has been the subject of long-standing and invidious discrimination and whether the group’s distinguishing characteristic bears no relation to the ability of the group members to perform or function in society. In circumstances in which a group has been subject to such discrimination and its distinguishing characteristic does not bear any relation to such ability, the court inevitably has employed heightened scrutiny in reviewing statutory classifications targeting those groups. Thus, in Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 440, the court explained that statutory classifications based on race, alienage and national origin are reviewed with great skepticism because such statutes are likely to be motivated by prejudice and antipathy rather than by any legitimate differences between members of those suspect groups and all other persons. The court in Cleburne expressed the same rationale in explaining why classifications based on gender are subject to a heightened standard of review: “[W]hat differentiates sex from such nonsuspect statuses as intelligence or physical disability ... is that the sex characteristic frequently bears no relation to ability to perform or contribute to society. . . . Rather than resting on meaningful considerations, statutes distributing benefits and burdens between the sexes in different ways very likely reflect outmoded notions of the relative capabilities or men and women.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 440-41. In contrast, with respect to the elderly and mentally disadvantaged, the court explained that “[when] individuals in the group affected by a law have distinguishing characteristics relevant to interests the [s]tate has the authority to implement, the courts have been very reluctant, as they should be in our federal system, to closely scrutinize legislative choices as to whether, how, and to what extent those interests should be pursued. In such cases, the [e]qual [protection [c]lause requires only a rational means to serve a legitimate end.” Id., 441-42.

It is evident, moreover, that immutability and minority status or political powerlessness are subsidiary to the first two primary factors because, as we explain more fully hereinafter, the United States Supreme Court has granted suspect class status to a group whose distinguishing characteristic is not immutable;²⁰ see Nyquist v. Mauclet, 432 U.S. 1, 9 n.11, 97 S. Ct. 2120, 53 L. Ed. 2d 63 (1977) (rejecting immutability requirement in treating group of resident aliens as suspect class despite their ability to opt out of class voluntarily); and has accorded quasi-suspect status to a group that had not been a minority or truly politically powerless.²¹ See Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 686 n.17 (plurality opinion) (according women heightened protection despite court’s acknowledgment that women “do not constitute a small and powerless minority”). We do not doubt, moreover, that the court has accorded little weight to a group’s political power because that factor, in contrast to the other criteria, frequently is not readily discernible by reference to objective standards. Thus, an attempt to quantify a group’s political influence often will involve a myriad of complex and interrelated considerations of a kind not readily susceptible to judicial fact-finding. Nevertheless, because the court has identified the immutability of the group’s distinguishing characteristic and the group’s minority status or relative lack of political power as potentially relevant factors to the determination of whether heightened judicial protection is appropriate, we, too, shall consider those factors for purposes of our inquiry under the state constitution.²²

Finally, we note that courts generally have applied the same criteria to determine whether a classification is suspect, quasi-suspect or neither. See, e.g., Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 440-42 (applying factors in concluding that mentally disadvantaged persons do not constitute suspect or quasi-suspect class); Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, supra, 427 U.S. 313-14 (applying factors in concluding that age is not suspect classification). Just as there is no uniformly applied formula for determining whether a group is entitled to heightened protection under the constitution, there also is no clear test for determining whether a group that deserves such protection is entitled to designation as a suspect class or as a quasi-suspect class.²³ Nevertheless, we agree with the New Mexico Supreme Court that, although “the definition of a suspect class for the purposes of justifying strict scrutiny is instructive for a determination of whether a group of people qualifies as a [quasi-suspect] class justifying intermediate scrutiny, it is too exacting.” Breen v. Carlsbad Municipal Schools, 138 N.M. 331, 337, 120 P.3d 413 (2005) (holding that mentally disadvantaged persons constitute quasi-suspect class under equal protection clause of New Mexico constitution). Indeed, it stands to reason that “the level of protection needed from the majoritarian political process does not have to be as extraordinary as necessary for strict scrutiny because the level of scrutiny is less in intermediate scrutiny.” Id., 338. In other words, although the same factors are relevant for the purpose of identifying both suspect and quasi-suspect classes, we apply those factors less stringently with respect to groups claiming quasi-suspect class status because the intermediate scrutiny applicable to a statutory classification that discriminates on the basis of quasi-suspect status is less rigorous or demanding than the strict scrutiny to which laws burdening a suspect class are subject. With these principles in mind, we consider the plaintiffs’ contention that they are entitled to recognition as a quasi-suspect class.²⁴

V

STATUS OF GAY PERSONS AS A QUASI-SUSPECT CLASS

For the reasons that follow, we agree with the plaintiffs’ claim that sexual orientation meets all of the requirements of a quasi-suspect classification. Gay persons have been subjected to and stigmatized by a long history of purposeful and invidious discrimination that continues to manifest itself in society. The characteristic that defines the members of this group—attraction to persons of the same sex—bears no logical relationship to their ability to perform in society, either in familial relations or otherwise as productive citizens. Because sexual orientation is such an essential component of personhood, even if there is some possibility that a person’s sexual preference can be altered, it would be wholly unacceptable for the state to require anyone to do so. Gay persons also represent a distinct minority of the population. It is true, of course, that gay persons recently have made significant advances in obtaining equal treatment under the law. Nonetheless, we conclude that, as a minority group that continues to suffer the enduring effects of centuries of legally sanctioned discrimination, laws singling them out for disparate treatment are subject to heightened judicial scrutiny to ensure that those laws are not the product of such historical prejudice and stereotyping.

A

History of Discrimination

The defendants do not dispute that gay persons historically have been, and continue to be, the target of purposeful and pernicious discrimination due solely to their sexual orientation. For centuries, the prevailing attitude toward gay persons has been “one of strong disapproval, frequent ostracism, social and legal discrimination, and at times ferocious punishment.” R. Posner, Sex and Reason (Harvard University Press 1992) c. 11, p. 291; see also note, “The Constitutional Status of Sexual Orientation: Homosexuality as a Suspect Classification,” 98 Harv. L. Rev. 1285, 1302 (1985) (“It is . . . uncontroversiai that gays as a group suffer from stigmatization in all spheres of life. The stigma has persisted throughout history, across cultures, and in the United States.”). “The American Psychiatric Association [has noted that] . . . when compared to other social groups, homosexuals are still among the most stigmatized groups in the nation. Hate crimes are prevalent. Gay persons are still banned from serving openly in the [United States] military service.²⁵ . . . Gay and lesbian adolescents are often taunted and humiliated in their school settings. Many professional persons and employees in all occupations are still fearful of identifying as gay or lesbians in their work settings. ... In fact, gay persons share a history of persecution comparable to that of blacks and women.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Snetsinger v. Montana University System, 325 Mont. 148, 163-64, 104 P.3d 445 (2004) (Nelson, J., concurring); see also In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 841 (“[o]utside of racial and religious minorities, we can think of no group which has suffered such pernicious and sustained hostility ... as homosexuals” [internal quotation marks omitted]); D. Satcher, Surgeon General, United States Department of Health and Human Services, “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior” (July 9,2001) (“[0]ur culture often stigmatizes homosexual behavior, identity and relationships. . . . These anti-homosexual attitudes are associated with psychological distress for homosexual persons and may have a negative impact on mental health, including a greater incidence of depression and suicide, lower self-acceptance and a greater likelihood of hiding sexual orientation . . . .” [Citations omitted.]), available at http://www. surgeongeneral.gov/library/sexualhealth/call.htm.²⁶

Of course, gay persons have been subjected to such severe and sustained discrimination because of our culture’s long-standing intolerance of intimate homosexual conduct. As the United States Supreme Court has recognized, “[proscriptions against [homosexual sodomy] have ancient roots.” Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186, 192, 106 S. Ct. 2841, 92 L. Ed. 2d 140 (1986), overruled on other grounds by Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 123 S. Ct. 2472, 156 L. Ed. 2d 508 (2003); see also High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, 909 F.2d 375, 382 (9th Cir. 1990) (Canby, J., dissenting) (“mainstream society has mistreated [homosexuals] for centuries”); Baker v. Wade, 769 F.2d 289, 292 (5th Cir. 1985) (“the strong objection to homosexual conduct . . . has prevailed in Western culture for the past seven centuries”), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1022, 106 S. Ct. 3337, 92 L. Ed. 2d 742 (1986). Much of the condemnation of homosexuality derives from firmly held religious beliefs and moral convictions. See, e.g., Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 571. Until not long ago, gay persons were widely regarded as deviants in need of treatment to deal with their sexual orientation.²⁷ See, e.g., Conaway v. Deane, 401 Md. 219, 283-84, 932 A.2d 571 (2007). Moreover, until 2003, when the United States Supreme Court concluded, contrary to its earlier holding in Bowers that consensual homosexual conduct is protected under the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment; see Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 578; such conduct carried criminal penalties in over one quarter of the states. See id., 573; see also Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 193 (observing that “until 1961, all [fifty] [s]tates outlawed sodomy”). Connecticut did not repeal its anti-sodomy law until 1969; Public Acts 1969, No. 828, § 214 (repealing General Statutes [Rev. to 1968] § 53-216); and, as late as 1986, the court in Bowers noted that twenty-four states and the District of Columbia “still [made] such conduct illegal and ha[d] done so for a very long time.” Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 190. It therefore is not surprising that no court ever has refused to treat gay persons as a suspect or quasi-suspect class on the ground that they have not suffered a history of invidious discrimination. See E. Gerstmann, The Constitutional Underclass: Gays, Lesbians, and the Failure of Class-Based Equal Protection (University of Chicago Press 1999) c. 4, p. 66.

There is no question, therefore, that gay persons historically have been, and continue to be, the target of purposeful and pernicious discrimination due solely to their sexual orientation. We therefore turn to the second required factor, namely, whether the sexual orientation of gay persons has any bearing on their ability to participate in society.

B

Whether Sexual Orientation Is Related to a Person’s Ability to Participate in or Contribute to Society

The defendants also concede that sexual orientation bears no relation to a person’s ability to participate in or contribute to society, a fact that many courts have acknowledged, as well. See, e.g., Watkins v. United States Army, 875 F.2d 699, 725 (9th Cir. 1989) (Norris, J., concurring in the judgment) (“[s]exual orientation plainly has no relevance to a person’s ability to perform or contribute to society” [internal quotation marks omitted]), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 957, 111 S. Ct. 384, 112 (1990); Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, 860 F. Sup. 417, 437 (S.D. Ohio 1994) (“[S]exual orientation . . . bears no relation whatsoever to an individual’s ability to perform, or to participate in, or contribute to, society. ... If homosexuals were afflicted with some sort of impediment to their ability to perform and to contribute to society, the entire phenomenon of ‘staying in the [c]loset’ and of ‘coming out’ would not exist; their impediment would betray their status.”), rev’d on other grounds, 54 F.3d 261 (6th Cir. 1995), vacated and remanded, 518 U.S. 1001, 116 S. Ct. 2519, 135 L. Ed. 2d 1044 (1996); Conaway v. Deane, supra, 401 Md. 282 (gay persons have been subject to unique disabilities unrelated to their ability to contribute to society); Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d 338, 388, 855 N.E.2d 1, 821 N.Y.S.2d 770 (2006) (Kaye, C. J., dissenting) (“[o]bviously, sexual orientation is irrelevant to one’s ability to perform or contribute”). In this critical respect, gay persons stand in stark contrast to other groups that have been denied suspect or quasi-suspect class recognition, despite a history of discrimination, because the distinguishing characteristics of those groups adversely affect their ability or capacity to perform certain functions or to discharge certain responsibilities in society. See, e.g., Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 442 (for purposes of federal constitution, mental retardation is not quasi-suspect classification because, inter alia, “it is undeniable . . . that those who are mentally retarded have a reduced ability to cope with and function in the everyday world”); Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, supra, 427 U.S. 315 (age is not suspect classification because, inter alia, “physical ability generally declines with age”); see also Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 472, 111 S. Ct. 2395, 115 L. Ed. 2d 410 (1991) (“[i]t is an unfortunate fact of life that physical [capacity] and mental capacity sometimes diminish with age”).

Unlike the characteristics unique to those groups, however, “homosexuality bears no relation at all to [an] individual’s ability to contribute fully to society.” L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law (2d Ed. 1988) § 16-33, p. 1616. Indeed, because an individual’s homosexual orientation “implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability or general social or vocational capabilities”; (internal quotation marks omitted) Jantz v. Muci, 759 F. Sup. 1543, 1548 (D. Kan. 1991) (quoting 1985 Resolution of the American Psychological Association), rev’d on other grounds, 976 F.2d 623 (10th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 952, 113 S. Ct. 2445, 124 L. Ed. 2d 662 (1993); the observation of the United States Supreme Court that race, alienage and national origin— all suspect classes entitled to the highest level of constitutional protection—“are so seldom relevant to the achievement of any legitimate state interest that laws grounded in such considerations are deemed to reflect prejudice and antipathy”; Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 440; is no less applicable to gay persons.

It is highly significant, moreover, that it is the public policy of this state that sexual orientation bears no relation to an individual’s ability to raise children; see, e.g., General Statutes § 45a-727 (permitting same sex couples to adopt children); see also General Statutes § 45a-727a (3) (finding of General Assembly that best interests of child are promoted whenever child is pait of “loving, supportive and stable family” without reference to sexual preference of parents); to an individual’s capacity to enter into relationships analogous to marriage; see General Statutes §§ 46b-38aa through 46b-38pp (granting same sex couples all rights and privileges afforded to opposite sex couples who enter into marriage); and to an individual’s ability otherwise to participate fully in every important economic and social institution and activity that the government regulates. See General Statutes § § 46a-8 la through 46a-8 In (generally banning sexual orientation discrimination in employment, trade and professional association membership, public accommodations, housing, credit practices, state hiring practices, state licensing practices and in administration of state educational and vocational programs as well as state administered benefits programs). These statutory provisions constitute an acknowledgment by the state that homosexual orientation is no more relevant to a person’s ability to perform and contribute to society than is heterosexual orientation. It therefore is clear that the plaintiffs have satisfied this second and final required prong for determining whether a group is entitled to recognition as a quasi-suspect or suspect class.

C

Immutability of the Group’s Distinguishing Characteristic

A third factor that courts have considered in determining whether the members of a class are entitled to heightened protection for equal protection purposes is whether the attribute or characteristic that distinguishes them is immutable or otherwise beyond their control. See, e.g., Bowen v. Gilliard, supra, 483 U.S. 602. Of course, the characteristic that distinguishes gay persons from others and qualifies them for recognition as a distinct and discrete group is the characteristic that historically has resulted in their social and legal ostracism, namely, their attraction to persons of the same sex.

On a number of occasions, in connection with its consideration of a claim that a particular group is entitled to suspect or quasi-suspect class status, the United States Supreme Court has considered whether the group’s distinguishing characteristic is immutable. See, e.g., Mathews v. Lucas, supra, 427 U.S. 505 (illegitimacy is “a characteristic determined by causes not within the control of the illegitimate individual”); Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 686 (plurality opinion) (“since sex, like race and national origin, is an immutable characteristic determined solely by the accident of birth, the imposition of special disabilities [on] the members of a particular sex because of their sex would seem to violate the basic concept of our system that legal burdens should bear some relationship to individual responsibility” [internal quotation marks omitted]); cf. Parham v. Hughes, 441 U.S. 347, 351, 99 S. Ct. 1742, 60 L. Ed. 2d 269 (1979) (statute prohibiting father, who has failed to legitimate his illegitimate child, from suing for child’s wrongful death does not create inherently suspect class “based [on] certain . . . immutable human attributes”); Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. 361, 375 n. 14, 94 S. Ct. 1160, 39 L. Ed. 2d 389 (1974) (conscientious objectors do not constitute suspect class because, inter alia, they lack traditional indicia of suspect class, including “immutable characteristic”). Immutability has been deemed to be a relevant consideration because it “make[s] discrimination more clearly unfair.” High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 377 (Canby, J., dissenting). “Immutability may be considered important because it would be pointless to try to deter membership in the immutable group, or because individual group members cannot be blamed for their status, or because immutability heightens the sense of stigma associated with membership . . . .” Note, supra, 98 Harv. L. Rev. 1302-1303. Put differently, “[t]he degree to which an individual controls, or cannot avoid, the acquisition of a defining trait, and the relative ease or difficulty with which a trait can be changed, are relevant to whether a classification is ‘suspect’ or ‘quasi-suspect’ because this inquiry is one way of asking whether someone, rather than being victimized, has voluntarily joined a persecuted group and thereby invited the discrimination.” Dean v. District of Columbia, 653 A.2d 307, 346 (D.C. 1995) (Ferren, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

A number of courts that have considered this factor have rejected the claim that sexual orientation is an immutable characteristic.²⁸ Other courts, however, as well as many, if not most, scholarly commentators, have reached a contrary conclusion.²⁹ Although we do not doubt that sexual orientation—heterosexual or homosexual—is highly resistant to change, it is not necessary for us to decide whether sexual orientation is immutable in the same way and to the same extent that race, national origin and gender are immutable, because, even if it is not, the plaintiffs nonetheless have established that they fully satisfy this consideration.

Sexual intimacy is “a sensitive, key relationship of human existence, central to . . . the development of human personality . . . .” Paris Adull Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 63, 93 S. Ct. 2628, 37 L. Ed. 2d 446 (1973). Thus, the United States Supreme Court has recognized that, because “the protected right of homosexual adults to engage in intimate, consensual conduct . . . [represents] an integral part of human freedom”; Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 576-77; individual decisions by consenting adults concerning the intimacies of their physical relationships are entitled to constitutional protection. See id., 578. Indeed, it is indisputable that sexual orientation “forms a significant part of a person’s identity.” Able v. United States, 968 F. Sup. 850, 863 (E.D.N.Y. 1997), rev’d on other grounds, 155 F.3d 628 (2d Cir. 1998); see also L. Tribe, supra, § 16-33, p. 1616 (sexual orientation, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is central to personality of individual). It is equally apparent that, “[b]ecause a person’s sexual orientation is so integral an aspect of one’s identity, it is not appropriate to require a person to repudiate or change his or her sexual orientation in order to avoid discriminatory treatment.” In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 842; see also Hernandez-Montiel v. Immigration & Naturalization Service, 225 F.3d 1084, 1093 (9th Cir. 2000) (“[s]exual orientation and sexual identity . . . are so fundamental to one’s identity that a person should not be required to abandon them”); Watkins v. United States Army, supra, 875 F.2d 726 (Norris, J., concurring in the judgment) (“Scientific proof aside, it [also] seems appropriate to ask whether heterosexuals feel capable of changing their sexual orientation. Would heterosexuals living in a city that passed an ordinance burdening those who engaged in or desired to engage in sex with persons of the opposite sex find it easy not only to abstain from heterosexual activity but also to shift the object of their sexual desires to persons of the same sex? . . . [T]he possibility of such a difficult and traumatic change does not make sexual orientation ‘mutable’ for equal protection purposes.” [Citations omitted; emphasis in original.]); Jantz v. Muci, supra, 759 F. Sup. 1548 (“to discriminate against individuals who accept their given sexual orientation and refuse to alter that orientation to conform to societal norms does significant violence to a central and defining character of those individuals”).

In view of the central role that sexual orientation plays in a person’s fundamental right to self-determination, we fully agree with the plaintiffs that their sexual orientation represents the kind of distinguishing characteristic that defines them as a discrete group for purposes of determining whether that group should be afforded heightened protection under the equal protection provisions of the state constitution. This prong of the suspectness inquiry surely is satisfied when, as in the present case, the identifying trait is “so central to a person’s identity that it would be abhorrent for government to penalize a person for refusing to change [it] . . . .” Watkins v. United States Army, supra, 875 F.2d 726 (Norris, J., concurring in the judgment); see also Andersen v. King County, 158 Wash. 2d 1, 105 n.78, 138 P.3d 963 (2006) (Bridge, J., concurring in the dissent) (“Courts . . . should not conclude that homosexuality is mutable [for purposes of determining whether gay persons are entitled to suspect or quasi-suspect class status] because reasonable minds disagree about the causes of homosexuality or because some religious tenets forbid gay persons from ‘acting on’ homosexual behavior. Instead, courts should ask whether the characteristic at issue is one governments have any business requiring a person to change.” [Emphasis in original.]). In other words, gay persons, because they are characterized by a “central, defining [trait] of personhood, which may be altered [if at all] only at the expense of significant damage to the individual’s sense of self’; Jantz v. Muci, supra, 759 F. Sup. 1548; are no less entitled to consideration as a suspect or quasi-suspect class than any other group that has been deemed to exhibit an immutable characteristic. See id.; see also note, supra, 98 Harv. L. Rev. 1303 (sexual orientation, like race and sex, is “one of only a handful of characteristics that ha[s] such a pervasive and profound impact on the [relevant] aspects of personhood”). To decide otherwise would be to penalize someone for being unable or unwilling to “change ... a central aspect of individual and group identity”; Watkins v. United States Army, supra, 726 (Norris, J., concurring in the judgment); a result repugnant “to the values animating the constitutional ideal of equal protection of the laws.” Id.

D

Whether the Group Is a Minority or Lacking in Political Power

The final factor that bears consideration is whether the group is “a minority or politically powerless.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Bowen v. Gilliard, supra, 483 U.S. 602. We therefore turn to that prong of the test.

We commence our analysis by noting that, in previous cases involving groups seeking heightened protection under the federal equal protection clause, the United States Supreme Court described this factor without reference to the minority status of the subject group, focusing instead on the group’s lack of political power. See, e.g., Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, supra, 427 U.S. 313 (explaining that “a suspect class is one saddled with such disabilities, or subjected to such a history of purposeful unequal treatment, or relegated to such a position of political powerlessness as to command extraordinary protection from the majoritarian political process” [internal quotation marks omitted]); San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, supra, 411 U.S. 28 (same). In its most recent formulation of the test for determining whether a group is entitled to suspect or quasi-suspect classification, however, the court has indicated that this factor is satisfied upon a showing either that the group is a minority or that it lacks political power. Bowen v. Gilliard, supra, 483 U.S. 602; Lyng v. Castillo, supra, 477 U.S. 638. Indeed, in characterizing this factor in disjunctive terms, the court cited to Murgia; Bowen v. Gilliard, supra, 602-603; Lyng v. Castillo, supra, 638; thereby also indicating that, for purposes of this aspect of the inquiry, the test always has involved a determination of whether the group is a “discrete and insular” minority; United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U.S. 144, 152-53 n.4, 58 S. Ct. 778, 82 L. Ed. 1234 (1938); or, if not a true minority; see, e.g., Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 686 n.17, 688 (plurality opinion) (women accorded protected status although not minority); the group nonetheless is lacking in political power. This disjunctive test properly recognizes that a group may warrant heightened protection even though it does not fit the archetype of a discrete and insular minority. The test also properly recognizes that legislation singling out a true minority that meets the first three prongs of the suspectness inquiry must be viewed with skepticism because, under such circumstances, there exists an undue risk that legislation involving the historically disfavored group has been motivated by improper considerations borne of prejudice or animosity.

When this approach is applied to the present case, there is no doubt that gay persons clearly comprise a distinct minority of the population.³⁰ Consequently, they clearly satisfy the first part of the disjunctive test and, thus, may be deemed to satisfy this prong of the suspectness inquiry on that basis alone.

The defendants nevertheless maintain that gay persons should not receive recognition as a quasi-suspect group because they are not politically powerless. In light of this claim, which represents the defendants’ primary challenge to the plaintiffs’ contention that they are entitled to quasi-suspect class status, and because some courts have applied that component of the suspectness inquiry to deny gay persons protected status even though they represent a minority of the population, we consider the defendants’ contention.

In support of their claim, the defendants rely primarily on this state’s enactment of the gay rights and civil union laws, which, of course, were designed to provide equal rights for gay persons, and which undoubtedly reflect a measure of political power. The defendants also rely on the fact that several state legislators in Connecticut are openly gay. From the defendants’ standpoint, these significant advances undermine the plaintiffs’ claim that gay persons are so lacking in political power that they are entitled to heightened judicial protection.

The plaintiffs contend that this test does not require proof that gay persons are wholly lacking in political influence but, rather, that the discrimination to which they have been subjected has been so severe and so persistent that, as with race and sex discrimination, it is not likely to be remedied soon enough merely by resort to the majoritarian political process. In support of their assertion that they do not wield sufficient political power to obviate the need for heightened judicial protection, the plaintiffs note that gay persons are demonstrably less powerful than African-Americans and women, two groups that have been accorded protected status under the federal constitution. As the plaintiffs also emphasize, courts continue to apply heightened scrutiny to statutes that discriminate against women and racial minorities notwithstanding the great strides that both groups have made and continue to make in recent years in terms of their political strength. Indeed, heightened scrutiny is applied to statutes that discriminate against men; see Craig v. Boren, supra, 429 U.S. 197, 204; and against Caucasians. See, e.g., Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469, 493-96, 109 S. Ct. 706, 102 L. Ed. 2d 854 (1989). Finally, the plaintiffs contend that when African-Americans and women first were recognized as suspect and quasi-suspect classes, respectively, comprehensive legislation barring discrimination against those groups had been in effect for years, and yet the existence of that legislation did not deter the United States Supreme Court from according them protected status. The plaintiffs argue, therefore, that similar legislation protecting gay persons cannot disqualify that group from recognition as a quasi-suspect class. We agree.

We commence our analysis by considering what the term “political powerlessness” actually means for purposes of the suspectness inquiry. Unfortunately, “in most cases the [United States] Supreme Court has no more than made passing reference to the ‘political power’ factor without actually analyzing it. See., e.g., Bowen v. Gilliard, [supra, 483 U.S. 602]; Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, [supra, 427 U.S. 313]; San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, [supra, 411 U.S. 28].” Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, supra, 860 F. Sup. 437-38 n.17. In view of this fact, and because the extent to which a group possesses or lacks political power is neither readily discernible nor easily measurable, this facet of the suspectness inquiry aptly has been characterized as “ill-defined . . . .” Id., 437 n.17. Our task is further complicated by the fact that, to our knowledge, no other court has undertaken a thorough analysis of this factor. The defendants are correct, of course, that gay persons are not entirely without political power, both because the legislature has been persuaded of the need for laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination and because some gay persons serve openly in public office. We agree with the plaintiffs, however, that they need not demonstrate that gay persons are politically powerless in any literal sense of that term in order to satisfy this component of the suspectness inquiry.

This conclusion is compelled by United States Supreme Court jurisprudence. We commence our review of that jurisprudence with Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 677 (plurality opinion), in which the court considered an equal protection challenge to a statutory scheme that treated female spouses of servicemen differently from the male spouses of servicewomen. See id., 678. After acknowledging this nation’s “long and unfortunate history of sex discrimination”; id., 684; the court underscored the “gross, stereotyped distinctions between the sexes” that had been statutorily sanctioned for many years. Id., 685. The court further observed that “sex, like race and national origin, is an immutable characteristic” that “frequently bears no relation to ability to perform or contribute to society.” Id., 686. In reliance on these considerations, the court concluded that classifications based on sex, like classifications based on race, alienage or national origin, are inherently suspect, and therefore must be subject to heightened judicial review.³¹ Id., 688.

In reaching its conclusion, the court observed, first, that “the position of women in America has improved markedly in recent decades.” Id., 685. Despite this improvement, however, the court also explained that “women still face[d] pervasive, although at times more subtle, discrimination in our educational institutions, in the job market and, perhaps most conspicuously, in the political arena.” Id., 686.

The court nevertheless recognized the significant political advances that had been made toward gender equality, observing that “Congress ha[d] . . . manifested an increasing sensitivity to sex-based classifications. In [Title] VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example, Congress expressly declared that no employer, labor union, or other organization subject to the provisions of the [a]ct shall discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Similarly, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 provides that no employer covered by the [a]ct shall discriminate . . . between employees on the basis of sex. And § 1 of the [e]qual [r]ights [a]mendment, passed by Congress on March 22, 1972, and submitted to the legislatures of the [s]tates for ratification, declares that [e] quality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any [s]tate on account of sex.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 687.

In light of these significant protections, the court also acknowledged that, “when viewed in the abstract, women do not constitute a small and powerless minority.” (Emphasis added.) Id., 686 n.17. The court further observed, however, that, in large part because of past discrimination, women were “vastly under-represented in this [n]ation’s decisionmaking councils.”³² Id. Thus, after explaining that women reasonably could not be characterized as politically powerless in the literal sense of that term, the court nevertheless concluded that women are entitled to enhanced judicial protection because the discrimination to which they had been subj ected was irrational and unlikely to be eliminated solely by the enactment of remedial legislation. In other words, as the court since has explained, heightened scrutiny of certain classifications, including gender, is warranted because those classifications “are so seldom relevant to the achievement of any legitimate state interest that laws grounded in such considerations are deemed to reflect prejudice and antipathy . . . and because such discrimination is unlikely to be soon rectified by legislative means . . . .” (Emphasis added.) Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 440.

Women have continued to make significant political progress in the years following the court’s decision in Frontiero.³³ Indeed, because females outnumber males in this country,³⁴ they do not constitute a minority, let alone a relatively powerless one. Nevertheless, the United States Supreme Court repeatedly has applied heightened scrutiny to statutory classifications based on sex and continues to do so. See, e.g., Nevada Dept. of Human Resources v. Hibbs, 538 U.S. 721, 728, 123 S. Ct. 1972, 155 L. Ed. 2d 953 (2003); Nguyen v. Immigration & Naturalization Service, 533 U.S. 53, 60, 121 S. Ct. 2053, 150 L. Ed. 2d 115 (2001); United States v. Virginia, supra, 518 U.S. 533; Heckler v. Mathews, 465 U.S. 728, 744, 104 S. Ct. 1387, 79 L. Ed. 2d 646 (1984); Caban v. Mohammed, 441 U.S. 380, 388, 99 S. Ct. 1760, 60 L. Ed. 2d 297 (1979); Califano v. Goldfarb, 430 U.S. 199, 210-11, 97 S. Ct. 1021, 51 L. Ed. 2d 270 (1977). Moreover, despite significant political gains by racial and ethnic minorities since they first were accorded treatment as a suspect class, both in terms of the enactment of antidiscrimination laws and electoral success,³⁵ courts also continue to apply strict scrutiny to statutes that draw distinctions on the basis of such classifications. See, e.g., Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 551 U.S. 701, , 127 S. Ct. 2738, 168 L. Ed. 2d 508 (2007); see also Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 467 (Marshall, J., concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part) (“[t]he [United States Supreme] Court . . . has never suggested that race-based classifications became any less suspect once extensive legislation had been enacted on the subject”); D. Richards, Women, Gays and the Constitution: The Grounds for Feminism and Gay Rights in Culture and Law (University of Chicago Press 1998) c. 5, p. 268 n.248 (“[r]acial classifications . . . remain as suspect as they have ever been irrespective of the political advances of African Americans”); D. Richards, supra, p. 268 (no sound reason exists to suggest “that the gains in political solidarity of groups subjected to deep racial or sexist or religious prejudice . . . disentitle them to constitutional protection”).

It is apparent, then, that the political powerlessness aspect of the suspectness inquiry does not require a showing that the group seeking recognition as a protected class is, in fact, without political power. As we have explained, women were not politically powerless in an absolute sense when they first were accorded heightened constitutional protection in the early 1970s; indeed, prior to the recognition of women as a quasi-suspect class, gender discrimination had been prohibited statutorily—much like discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been barred by statute in this state—and Congress had adopted a joint resolution that caused the proposed equal rights amendment to the United States constitution to be presented to the states for ratification. Today, women, like African-Americans, continue to receive heightened protection under the equal protection clause even though they are a potent and growing political force. The term “political powerlessness,” therefore, is clearly a misnomer. We apply this facet of the suspectness inquiry not to ascertain whether a group that has suffered invidious discrimination borne of prejudice or bigotry is devoid of political power but, rather, for the purpose of determining whether the group lacks sufficient political strength to bring a prompt end to the prejudice and discrimination through traditional political means. Consequently, a group satisfies the political powerlessness factor if it demonstrates that, because of the pervasive and sustained nature of the discrimination that its members have suffered, there is a risk that that discrimination will not be rectified, sooner rather than later, merely by resort to the democratic process. See Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 440. Applying this standard, we have little difficulty in concluding that gay persons are entitled to heightened constitutional protection despite some recent political progress.

First, the discrimination that gay persons have suffered has been so pervasive and severe—even though their sexual orientation has no bearing at all on their ability to contribute to or perform in society—that it is highly unlikely that legislative enactments alone will suffice to eliminate that discrimination. As we previously have noted; see part V A of this opinion; prejudice against gay persons is long-standing and deeply rooted, in this state and throughout the nation. In fact, until recently, gay persons were widely deemed to be mentally ill; see footnote 27 of this opinion and accompanying text; and their intimate conduct was subject to criminal sanctions. See, e.g., Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 193-94. It is impossible to overestimate the stigma that attaches in such circumstances. “After all, there can hardly be more palpable discrimination against a class than making the conduct that defines the class criminal.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 583 (O’Connor, J., concurring in the judgment); accord Padula v. Webster, 822 F.2d 97, 103 (D.C. Cir. 1987); see also Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 575 (“[w]hen homosexual conduct is made criminal by the law of the [s]tate, that declaration in and of itself is an invitation to subject homosexual persons to discrimination both in the public and in the private spheres”).

That prejudice against gay persons is so widespread and so deep-seated is due, in large measure, to the fact that many people in our state and nation sincerely believe that homosexuality is morally reprehensible. Indeed, homosexuality is contrary to the teachings of more than a few religions.³⁶ In its amicus brief submitted to this court, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents “the interests ... of religious persons and institutions that conscientiously object to treating [same] sex and [opposite] sex unions as moral equivalents,” notes that “many religious groups do not accept [a sexual relationship] among same sex couples as a matter of conscience” and that “probably [the] majority . . . [of] religious groups . . . oppose same sex marriage.” As the United States Supreme Court has recognized, “for centuries there have been powerful voices to condemn homosexual conduct as immoral. The condemnation [of homosexuality] has been shaped by religious beliefs, conceptions of right and acceptable behavior, and respect for the traditional family. For many persons these are not trivial concerns but profound and deep convictions accepted as ethical and moral principles to which they aspire and which thus determine the course of their lives.” Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 571. Former United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger made this same point not long ago: “Decisions of individuals relating to homosexual conduct have been subject to state intervention throughout the history of Western civilization. Condemnation of those practices is firmly rooted in Judeao-Christian moral and ethical standards”; Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 196 (Burger, C. J., concurring); and represents a “millennia of moral teaching.” Id., 197. Feelings and beliefs predicated on such profound religious and moral principles are likely to be enduring, and persons and groups adhering to those views undoubtedly will continue to exert influence over public policy makers.³⁷

Beyond moral disapprobation, gay persons also face virulent homophobia that rests on nothing more than feelings of revulsion toward gay persons and the intimate sexual conduct with which they are associated. Unfortunately, “[h]omosexuals are hated, quite irrationally, for what they are . . . .” High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 382 (Canby, J., dissenting). Such visceral prejudice is reflected in the large number of hate crimes that are perpetrated against gay persons.³⁸ The prevalence of such crimes has prompted the legislature to pass hate crime legislation that includes sexual orientation, along with race, religion, ethnicity, disability and gender, as a protected class. See General Statutes §§ 53a-181j, 53a-181k and 53a-181Z. The irrational nature of the prejudice directed at gay persons, who “are ridiculed, ostracized, despised, demonized and condemned” merely for being who they are; Snetsinger v. Montana University System, supra, 325 Mont. 160 (Nelson, J., concurring); is entirely different in kind than the prejudice suffered by other groups that previously have been denied suspect or quasi-suspect class status, such as the poor, the mentally disadvantaged and the aged. In fact, the bigotry and hatred that gay persons have faced are akin to, and, in certain respects, perhaps even more severe than, those confronted by some groups that have been accorded heightened judicial protection.³⁹ See, e.g., People v. Garcia, 77 Cal. App. 4th 1269, 1279, 92 Cal. Rptr. 2d 339 (2000) (only racial and religious minorities have suffered more intense and deep-seated hostility than homosexuals). This fact provides further reason to doubt that such prejudice soon can be eliminated and underscores the reality that gay persons face unique challenges to their political and social integration.⁴⁰

Insofar as gay persons play a role in the political process, it is apparent that their numbers reflect their status as a small and insular minority. It recently has been noted that, of the more than one-half million people who hold a political office at the local, state and national level, only about 300 are openly gay persons. Andersen v. King County, supra, 158 Wash. 2d 105 (Bridge, J., concurring in dissent); see also R. La Corte, “State Legislature Has Second-Largest Gay Caucus in U.S.” (January 24, 2008) (putting figure at about 400 openly gay persons), available at http://seattletimes. nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004140976_webgay caucus23.html?syn. No openly gay person ever has been appointed to a United States Cabinet position or to any federal appeals court.⁴¹ In addition, no openly gay person has served in the United States Senate, and only two currently serve in the United States House of Representatives. See “Majority of Voters Open To Electing Gay President” (August 21, 2008), available at http://www.vict01yfund.0rg/news/view/url:maj0rity_ of_voters_open_to_electing_gay_president. Gay persons also lack representation in the highest levels of business, industry and academia. For example, no openly gay person heads a Fortune 500 company; G. Shister, “Gay Chief Executives Come Out Winners” (January 28, 2008), available at http://web.archive.org/ web/20080129030005/http:/www.phiUy.com/inquirer/ local/20080128_Gay_chief_executives_come_out_winners.html; and it has been estimated that there are only fourteen openly gay college and university presidents or chancellors; see “An Openly Gay Chancellor Heads to Madison, Wis.,” Chronicle of Higher Education News Blog (May 29, 2008), available at http://chronicle.com/ news/article/?id=4574; a number that represents only one half of 1 percent of such positions nationwide.

In this state, no openly gay person ever has been elected to statewide office, and only five of the 187 members of the state legislature are openly gay or lesbian.⁴² No openly gay man or lesbian ever has been appointed to the state Supreme Court or Appellate Court, and we are aware of only one openly gay or lesbian judge of the Superior Court. By contrast, this state’s current governor, comptroller and secretary of the state are women, as are the current chief justice and two associate justices of the state Supreme Court, and other women now hold and previously have held statewide office and positions in the United States House of Representatives. By any standard, therefore, gay persons “remain a political underclass in our [state and] nation.” Andersen v. King County, supra, 158 Wash. 2d 105 (Bridge, J., concurring in dissent).

In recent years, our legislature has taken substantial steps to address discrimination against gay persons. These efforts are most notably reflected in this state’s gay rights law; see General Statutes §§ 46a-81a through 46a-81r; which broadly prohibits discrimination against a person because of his or her “preference for heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality, having a history of such preference or being identified with such preference . . . .”⁴³ General Statutes § 46a-81a. This public policy extends to a wide range of activities, including membership in licensed professional associations; see General Statutes § 46a-81b; employment; see General Statutes § 46a-81c; public accommodations; see General Statutes § 46a-81d; housing; see General Statutes § 46a-81e; credit practices; see General Statutes § 46a-81f; employment in state agencies; see General Statutes §§ 46a-81h and 46a-81j; the granting of state licenses; see General Statutes § 46a-81k; educational and vocational programs of state agencies; see General Statutes § 46a-81m; and the allocation of state benefits. See General Statutes § 46a-81n. Other statutes also seek to prohibit discrimination against same sex couples and gay persons. See General Statutes § 45a-724 et seq. (permitting same sex couples to adopt children); General Statutes §§ 53a-181j, 53a-181k and 53a-181i (recognizing crimes of intimidation based on bigotry or bias for conduct directed at another on account of that person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation). These antidiscrimination provisions, along with the civil union law, reflect the fact that gay persons are able to exert some degree of political influence in the state.

Notwithstanding these provisions, however, the legislature expressly has stated that the gay rights law shall not be “deemed or construed (1) to mean the state of Connecticut condones homosexuality or bisexuality or any equivalent lifestyle, (2) to authorize the promotion of homosexuality or bisexuality in educational institutions or require the teaching in educational institutions of homosexuality or bisexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, (3) to authorize or permit the use of numerical goals or quotas, or other types of affirmative action programs, with respect to homosexuality or bisexuality in the administration or enforcement of the [state’s antidiscrimination laws], (4) to authorize the recognition of or the right of marriage between persons of the same sex, or (5) to establish sexual orientation as a specific and separate cultural classification in society.”⁴⁴ General Statutes § 46a-81r. By singling out same sex relationships in this manner—there is, of course, no such statutory disclaimer for opposite sex relationships—the legislature effectively has proclaimed, as a matter of state policy, that same sex relationships are disfavored.⁴⁵ That policy, which is unprecedented among the various antidiscrimination measures enacted in this state, represents a kind of state-sponsored disapproval of same sex relationships and, consequently, serves to undermine the legitimacy of homosexual relationships, to perpetuate feelings of personal inferiority and inadequacy among gay persons, and to diminish the effect of the laws barring discrimination against gay persons.⁴⁶ Indeed, the purposeful description of homosexuality as a “lifestyle” not condoned by the state stigmatizes gay persons and equates their identity with conduct that is disfavored by the state. Furthermore, although the legislature eventually enacted the gay rights law, its enactment was preceded by nearly a decade of numerous, failed attempts at passage.⁴⁷ In addition, the bill that did become law provides more limited protection than the proposals that had preceded it, all of which would have added sexual orientation to the existing nondiscrimination laws and would have treated the classification in the same manner as other protected classes.⁴⁸ Finally, as we have explained, the legislation that ultimately emerged from this process passed only after a compromise was reached that resulted in, inter alia, an unprecedented proviso expressing the position of the legislature that it does not condone homosexuality. Thus, to the extent that those civil rights laws, as well as the civil union law, reflect the fact that gay persons wield a measure of political power, the public policy articulated in § 46a-81r is clear evidence of the limits of that political influence.

Finally, although state law provides certain protections to gay persons, the United States Supreme Court has explained that such protective legislation, while indicative that the subject group possesses at least some political power; see, e.g., Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 445 (observing that unique legislative response to special needs of mentally disadvantaged persons belies claim that such persons are so lacking in political power that they cannot attract attention of lawmakers to those special needs); also is a factor supporting the conclusion that the subject group is in need of heightened constitutional protection. In particular, in Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 687 (plurality opinion), the court observed that Congress had taken significant steps, both statutory and otherwise, to eliminate gender discrimination. The court further explained that, in undertaking those efforts, Congress had manifested its determination that gender classifications are “inherently invidious”; id.; and that that “conclusion of a coequal branch of [g]ovemment” was significant for the purpose of deciding whether gender constituted a suspect class for equal protection purposes. Id., 687-88. Thus, the court viewed the enactment of remedial legislation aimed at protecting women from discrimination not as reason to deny them protected class status but, rather, as a justification for granting them such treatment, because it reflected the determination of Congress that gender based classifications are likely to be founded on prejudice and stereotype. See id. We therefore agree with Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye of the New York Court of Appeals that “[s]uch measures acknowledge—rather than mark the end of—a history of purposeful discrimination . . . .”⁴⁹ Hernandez v. Robles, supra, 7 N.Y.3d 388-89 (Kaye, C. J., dissenting); see also Watkins v. United States Army, supra, 875 F.2d 727 (Norris, J., concurring in the judgment) (“[t]he very fact that homosexuals have historically been underrepresented in and victimized by political bodies is itself strong evidence that they lack the political power necessary to ensure fair treatment at the hands of government”).

As this court has observed, the gay rights law “was enacted in order to protect people from pervasive and invidious discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”⁵⁰ Gay & Lesbian Law Students Assn. v. Board of Trustees, 236 Conn. 453, 481-82, 673 A.2d 484 (1996). The antidiscrimination provisions of our gay rights law, no less than the provisions that Congress had enacted prior to Frontiero to counter gender discrimination; see Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 687 (plurality opinion) (citing Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964, Equal Pay Act of 1963 and proposed equal rights amendment to United States constitution); represent a legislative consensus that sexual orientation discrimination, like gender discrimination several decades ago, is widespread, invidious and resistant to change.

Gay persons, moreover, continue to “face an uphill battle in pursuing political success. The awareness of public hatred and the fear of violence that often accompanies it undermine efforts to develop an effective gay political identity. [Gay persons] are disinclined to risk retaliation by open identification with the movement, and potential allies from outside the gay [and lesbian] community may think twice about allying their fortunes with such a despised population. That may explain why many gay [and lesbian] officials hide their sexual orientation until they have built up considerable public trust, or why gay [and lesbian] candidates have not been elected to public office in due proportion to the size of the gay [and lesbian] community or [have not] enjoyed the same level of political success as blacks, Latinos, and other minority groups.” K. Wald, The Context of Gay Politics, in The Politics of Gay Rights (The University of Chicago Press, C. Rimmerman, K. Wald & C. Wilcox eds., 2000) pp. 1,14; see also, e.g., Jantz v. Muci, supra, 759 F. Sup. 1550 (“Due to the harsh penalties imposed by society on persons identified as homosexual, many homosexual persons conceal their sexual orientation. Silence, however, has its cost. It may allow a given individual to escape from the discrimination, abuse, and even violence which is often directed at homosexuals, but it ensures that homosexuals as a group are unheard politically.”).

With respect to the comparative political power of gay persons, they presently have no greater political power—in fact, they undoubtedly have a good deal less such influence—than women did in 1973, when the United States Supreme Court, in Frontiero, held that women are entitled to heightened judicial protection. Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 688 (plurality opinion). After all, at that time, women were not a true minority, and they had begun to flex their political muscle on the national scene. Indeed, the court in Frontiero accorded women protected status even though gender discrimination already was broadly prohibited by federal legislation—just as sexual orientation discrimination is statutorily prohibited in this state. Moreover, when Frontiero was decided, the proposed equal rights amendment to the United States constitution, which would have accorded women suspect class status; see id., 692 (Powell, J., concurring in the judgment) (explaining that equal rights amendment, “if adopted [would] resolve the substance of [the] precise question [before the court]”); had broad support in Congress, where it passed overwhelmingly; see 118 Cong. Rec. 9598 (1972) (Senate vote on H.R.J. Res. 208); 117 Cong. Rec. 35,815 (1971) (House vote on H.R.J. Res. 208); and among the states, where it nearly achieved the votes necessary for adoption. See R. Lee, A Lawyer Looks at the Equal Rights Amendment (Brigham Young University Press 1980) c. 5, p. 37. In addition, “both major political parties ha[d] repeatedly supported [the amendment] in their national party platforms”; S. Rep. No. 92-689 (1972) p. 2; and it had been endorsed by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, along with an extraordinary array of civic, labor and legal organizations. Id., pp. 2-3. In 1974, a nationwide poll indicated overwhelming public support for the amendment. G. Steiner, Constitutional Inequality: The Political Fortunes of the Equal Rights Amendment (Brookings Institution 1985) c. 2, p. 27. In view of the conclusion of the court in Frontiero that women were entitled to heightened judicial protection despite their emergence as a growing political force and despite the widespread, bipartisan support for the equal rights amendment—the imminent ratification of which seemed all but assured— we see no justification for depriving gay persons of such protection. Tellingly, the defendants have proffered no justification for applying a different standard to gay persons under the state constitution than the court in Frontiero applied to women for purposes of the federal constitution.⁵¹

We also note that, despite the likelihood of ratification when Frontiero was decided in 1973, the equal rights amendment ultimately did not muster enough support among the states, and it therefore never was adopted. See R. Lee, supra, c. 5, p. 37. Thus, one of the lessons to be learned from Frontiero and its treatment of the equal rights amendment—an initiative that seemed far more likely to succeed nationally than any current effort to enact a gay marriage law in this state— is that, because support for particular legislation may ebb or flow at any time, the adjudication of the rights of a disfavored minority cannot depend solely on such an eventuality.

Finally, gay persons clearly lack the political power that African-Americans and women possess today. See, e.g., High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 378 (Canby, J., dissenting) (“[c]ertainly, homosexuals as a class wield less political power than blacks, a suspect [class], or women, a quasi-suspect one”); see also Dean v. District of Columbia, supra, 653 A.2d351 (Ferren, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (observing that gay persons “have considerably less political power than African-Americans”). Yet political gains by African-Americans and women have not been found to obviate the need for heightened judicial scrutiny of legislation that draws distinctions on the basis of race or gender. We therefore agree fully with the California Supreme Court’s recent observation in recognizing gay persons as a suspect class under the California constitution: “[I]f a group’s current political powerlessness were a prerequisite to a characteristic’s being considered a constitutionally suspect basis for differential treatment, it would be impossible to justify the numerous decisions that continue to treat sex, race, and religion as suspect [or quasi-suspect] classifications. Instead, [the relevant case law] make[s] clear that the most important factors in deciding whether a characteristic should be considered a constitutionally suspect basis for classification are whether the class of persons who exhibit a certain characteristic historically has been subjected to invidious and prejudicial treatment, and whether society now recognizes that the characteristic in question generally bears no relationship to the individual’s ability to perform or contribute to society.” (Emphasis in original.) In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 843. Under the standard for political powerlessness that the defendants advocate, however, African-Americans and women necessarily would have lost their protected status. The fact that courts have not seen fit to remove those groups from that status, even though they wield considerable political power, leads inexorably to the conclusion that gay persons cannot be deprived of heightened judicial protection merely because of their relatively limited political influence.⁵²

3

In his dissenting opinion, Justice Borden expresses his agreement that gay persons satisfy the first three prongs of the suspectness inquiry, that is, they have suffered a deplorable history of invidious discrimination, their sexual orientation is a distinguishing characteristic that defines them as a discrete group, and a person’s sexual orientation bears no relation to a person’s ability to contribute to society. Injustice Borden’s view, however, gay persons are not entitled to heightened protection, even though they meet the first three criteria, because the political power of gay persons overrides those three considerations.⁵³ In support of his conclusion, Justice Borden relies primarily on the existence of our state statutes barring discrimination against gay persons, the civil union law and the statements of several persons in favor of legislation supporting the right of gay persons to marry.⁵⁴ We disagree with Justice Borden’s analysis and his conclusion because it is absolutely clear that, under the test that Justice Borden acknowledges is applicable to the equal protection provisions of both the federal and state constitutions, gay persons today are entitled to heightened protection under the state constitution no less than women were entitled to heightened protection under the federal constitution in 1973.

Our fundamental disagreement with Justice Borden stems from his assertion that the holding of Frontiero according women protected status under the federal constitution in 1973 is “irrelevant” to the state constitutional issue raised by this case. Footnote 14 of Justice Borden’s dissenting opinion. To support this assertion, Justice Borden maintains that, because gender already is a suspect class under the state constitution, the status of women under the federal constitution is “beside the point.” Id. On the contrary, Justice Borden completely misses the point in attempting to explain why Frontiero and, in particular, its treatment of the political powerlessness component of the suspectness inquiry, is unimportant to this case. Simply put, that point is: if, as Justice Borden acknowledges, the court in Frontiero was correct in according women protected status under the same test that we apply for purposes of the state constitution, why would we deny gay persons, who have less political power than women possessed in 1973, the same measure of protection under the state constitution? This question is hardly irrelevant; in fact, it is the critical issue with respect to this component of the suspectness inquiry, for gay persons are entitled to have their claim for heightened constitutional protection under the state constitution given the same, evenhanded consideration of the political powerlessness standard that other historically maligned groups, including women, have received under the federal constitution.

In other words, as one commentator has explained, “[because] the term [political] ‘powerlessness’ is not self-defining . . . [t]here must be some yardstick of political power to which the power of [gay persons] can be compared.

“The only logical standard of comparison is other . . . quasi-suspect classes such as . . . women. If [women were] sufficiently powerless to be [accorded] . . . quasi-suspect [class status], then logically [gay persons] must be, at a minimum, more politically powerful than these groups if they are in fact too powerful to be a . . . quasi-suspect class.

“Amazingly [however], not a single court has ever compared the political power of [gay persons] to that of women ....

“The point, of course, is not that the courts should tolerate gender discrimination. The point is that the courts are applying a very different standard to [gay persons] than they have been applying to other [protected] groups. No court has been willing to evaluate the political power of women ... by the same standard that they have applied to [gay persons. Although] the equal protection of the laws does not require the same result for all groups seeking [quasi-suspect] class status, surely it requires that courts apply the same standards to all who seek judicial protection.” (Emphasis in original.) E. Gerstmann, supra, c. 4, pp. 81-83.

This is precisely the flaw in Justice Borden’s analysis. Because gay persons, like women, fully satisfy the first three criteria of the suspectness inquiry, it would be manifestly unfair to the plaintiffs, and to gay persons generally, to ignore or dismiss the analysis and result of Fronliero, which correctly concluded that women were not so politically powerful as to obviate the need for heightened judicial scrutiny of gender-based classifications. A brief recapitulation of the political status of women when Fronliero was decided makes it crystal clear that, upon application of the standard applied by the court in Fronliero, gay persons have the same right to protected status under the state constitution that women have been accorded under the federal constitution.⁵⁵

As we previously have discussed, when Frontiero was decided in 1973, women wielded considerable political clout. In fact, women were not even a voting minority. Census data reveal that, in 1970, there were approximately 70 million women of voting age in the United States and approximately 63 million men of that age. See United States Census Bureau, “Democratic Trends in the 20th Century” (November, 2002) p. A-9, available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/ censr-4.pdf. Thus, voting age women outnumbered voting age men by approximately 7 million. By contrast, gay persons undisputedly comprise a small minority of the population.

Furthermore, by the time Frontiero was decided in 1973, Congress already had passed comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in recognition of the long history of discrimination to which women had been subjected. See Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 687 (plurality opinion). The court in Frontiero, however, accorded women protected status despite the existence of this legislation and notwithstanding the fact that they comprised a majority of the population. See id., 688. Of even greater significance for present purposes, however, the equal rights amendment was pending approval at that time, and its ratification would have accorded women status as a suspect class. In other words, upon ratification of that amendment, no statutory classification pertaining to women would have been sustainable unless the state could establish that the classification was truly necessary to achieve a compelling state interest. Thus, the equal rights amendment would have afforded women the highest possible level of constitutional protection. Most significantly, therefore, the constitutional protection to be afforded women under the equal rights amendment would have far exceeded, both in scope and in import, the statutory benefit of a civil union law and, in the event of its enactment, a same sex marriage law.

Because Justice Borden places so much emphasis on what he perceives to be the future of gay marriage in this state; see part I C 1 of Justice Borden’s dissenting opinion (quoting certain selected legislators voicing optimism about future of gay marriage in Connecticut); we look to the status of the equal rights amendment when Frontiero was decided in 1973. As we already have noted, the amendment passed overwhelmingly in Congress: the vote in the United States Senate in favor of the amendment was 84 to 8, with 7 abstaining; 118 Cong. Rec. 9598 (1972); and the vote in the United States House of Representatives was 354 to 24, with 51 abstaining. 117 Cong. Rec. 35,815 (1971). As one scholar has observed about that vote, “[t]he triumph of the [equal rights amendment] in Congress was complete, deliberate, and overpowering, an outcome clearly attributable to a congressional perception that a national consensus had been achieved.” G. Steiner, supra, c. 2, p. 26. “When the [e]qual [r]ights [a]mendment passed the Senate on March 22, 1972, it appeared to be riding an irresistible high. The Judiciary Committee had reported the resolution without amendment on a 15-1 vote. Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, Republican leader in the Senate, then solicited and got an endorsement from President [Richard M.] Nixon. ‘Throughout [twenty-one] years,’ the president wrote, ‘I have not altered my belief that equal rights for women warrant a constitutional guarantee—and I therefore continue to favor the enactment of the constitutional amendment to achieve this goal.’ ” Id., p. 22. Thus, “[a] high level of optimism [for its ultimate approval] seemed well warranted. . . . House passage had been by nearly fifteen to one and Senate passage by better than ten to one. Congressional action reflected a bipartisan effort .... Unless experienced and politically sensitive federal officeholders were wildly out of touch with sentiment in the states, or compelling new considerations were to surface, or proponents were to commit some egregious blunder, ratification then seemed a foregone conclusion.” Id., p. 23.

Supporters of the equal rights amendment were therefore all but certain that it soon would become law. For example, United States Senator Birch Bayh, the principal proponent of the amendment in the Senate, expressed his view that the amendment would be ratified “with dispatch.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) E. Shanahan, “Equal Rights Amendment Is Approved by Congress,” N.Y. Times, March 22,1972, p. Al. Moreover, in his testimony before the Senate, Senator Bayh explained that more than one half of the members of the Senate had sponsored the equal rights amendment, and that “[b]oth the Citizens’ Advisory Council on the Status of Women, created by President [John F.] Kennedy, and the President’s Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities, created by President Nixon, have recommended in strongest terms approval of the amendment.” 118 Cong. Rec. 8900 (1972). Senator Bayh also identified more than fifty major civic and professional organizations that supported the amendment, including the American Association of College Deans, American Association of University Women, American Civil Liberties Union, American Jewish Congress, American Newspaper Guild, American Nurses Association, Common Cause, Council for Christian Social Action, United Church of Christ, International Association of Human Rights Agencies, International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Union of United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers, National Association of Colored Women, National Education Association, National Organization for Women and United Automobile Workers. Id. Furthermore, the chief sponsor of the equal rights amendment in the House of Representatives, Representative Martha W. Griffiths, testified that, in her view, the amendment would “be ratified almost immediately.” 117 Cong. Rec. 35,815 (1971). In fact, “[w]ithin forty-eight hours of congressional passage, six states had ratified the [equal rights amendment], and within nine months, twenty-two states had ratified it.” A. Held, S. Herndon & D. Stager, “The Equal Rights Amendment: Why the ERA Remains Legally Viable and Properly Before the States,” 3 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 113, 116 (1997). The equal rights amendment ultimately was approved by thirty-five states, only three short of the thirty-eight states needed for ratification. R. Lee, supra, c. 5, p. 37.

Thus, in stark contrast to the proposed gay marriage bill on which Justice Borden relies in concluding that gay persons in this state are too politically powerful to warrant heightened constitutional protection, the equal rights amendment sailed through Congress and very nearly was ratified by the requisite number of states. As we have explained, moreover, the equal rights amendment would have provided women with the broadest and most comprehensive constitutional protection possible. Even though it appeared certain that the amendment would promptly receive final approval, and despite the political power manifested by such a feat, the court in Frontiero nevertheless concluded that women were entitled to heightened protection under the federal equal protection clause. Despite this precedent, Justice Borden attributes overriding political power to gay persons in this state—power that he concludes disqualifies them from heightened protection under the state constitution—on the basis of a few statements of support for a gay marriage bill that was not even submitted to a vote in the legislature because its supporters knew that, as in the past, the bill had no chance of passage. This analysis cannot be squared with Frontiero.

In sum, because, in 1973, (1) women constituted a majority of the population, (2) they possessed enormous potential electoral strength due to their majority status, (3) they were protected by comprehensive federal antidiscrimination legislation, and (4) imminent ratification of the equal rights amendment to the federal constitution appeared certain, there can be no question that women possessed more political power nationally in 1973 than gay persons currently possess in this state.⁵⁶ It therefore is impossible to conclude that, even though the court in Frontiero properly determined that women were not disqualified from heightened constitutional protection by virtue of the political power that they possessed, gay persons in this state are disqualified from such protection because of their political power.⁵⁷ In failing to acknowledge this fact—indeed, in failing even to reach the merits of this issue—Justice Borden avoids a critically important aspect of the plaintiffs’ equal protection claim, and, as a consequence, he reaches a result that is incompatible with precedent that he himself agrees is correct.⁵⁸ Thus, it is apparent that Justice Borden’s conclusion that gay persons must be denied protected status under the state constitution is based on the application of a standard that differs markedly from the standard applied by the court in Frontiero.59 Because we agree both with the standard applied by the court in Frontiero and with its holding, we reject Justice Borden’s conclusion that women are entitled to greater protection under the federal constitution than gay persons are entitled to under the state constitution.

We note, finally, Justice Borden’s assertion that we are “alone in mandating gay marriage as a matter of state constitutional law in the presence of . . . a . . . civil union [law]” and an indication of “support for gay marriage through legislation.” This assertion, like Justice Borden’s suggestion that the political power of gay persons in this state is somehow unique is inaccurate. For example, in California, which has the equivalent of a civil union statute, the legislature twice passed a gay marriage bill, but, on each occasion, the bill was vetoed by the governor. See J. Tucker, “Schwarzenegger Vetoes Same-Sex Marriage Bill Again” (October 13, 2007), available at http://www.sfgate.com/ cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/13/BAT7SPC72.DTL. Thus, under the standard on which Justice Borden relies, gay persons in California have demonstrated far greater political power than gay persons in this state. Nevertheless, following the vetoes of the gay marriage legislation in California, the California Supreme Court concluded that, under that state’s constitution, gay persons, as a suspect class, cannot be barred from marrying the same sex person of their choice. See In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 843-44,855-57. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court also has determined that same sex marriage is mandated under the Massachusetts constitution and declaration of rights after expressly concluding that a civil union alternative, which was proposed by the Massachusetts legislature, would have been unconstitutional; see Opinions of the Justices to the Senate, supra, 440 Mass. 1209-10; notwithstanding significant support for gay marriage in that state. See National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, “Recent State Polls on Same-Sex Marriage and Civil Unions” (May 6, 2005), available at http:/www. thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/reports/May2005 StatePolls.pdf. Furthermore, the highest courts of two other states have reserved judgment on whether civil unions will suffice to provide gay persons with the equal rights to which they have been found to be entitled under the state constitutions of those states. See Lewis v. Harris, supra, 188 N.J. 458-60; Baker v. State, supra, 170 Vt. 224-25. We therefore reject Justice Borden’s assertion that our state constitutional interpretation with respect to the rights of same sex couples is in any way unique or unprecedented.

In sum, the relatively modest political influence that gay persons possess is insufficient to rectify the invidious discrimination to which they have been subjected for so long. Like the political gains that women had made prior to their recognition as a quasi-suspect class, the political advances that gay persons have attained afford them inadequate protection, standing alone, in view of the deep-seated and pernicious nature of the prejudice and antipathy that they continue to face. Today, moreover, women have far greater political power than gay persons, yet they continue to be accorded status as a quasi-suspect class. See Breen v. Carlsbad Municipal Schools, supra, 138 N.M. 338 (explaining that intermediate scrutiny is appropriate with respect to discrimination based on sex “even though the darkest period of discrimination may have passed for [the] historically maligned group” and that “[such] scrutiny should still be applied to protect against more subtle forms of unconstitutional discrimination created by unconscious or disguised prejudice”). We conclude, therefore, that, to the extent that gay persons possess some political power, it does not disqualify them from recognition as a quasi-suspect class under the state constitution in view of the pervasive and invidious discrimination to which they historically have been subjected due to an innate personal characteristic that has absolutely no bearing on their ability to perform in or contribute to society.

VI

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT CONSIDERATIONS UNDER GEISLER

Although we conclude that gay persons meet each of the four factors identified by the United States Supreme Court for determining whether a group is entitled to heightened judicial scrutiny as a quasi-suspect class, we are obliged, under this court’s state constitutional jurisprudence, also to consider the extent to which any of the considerations identified by this court in State v. Geisler, supra, 222 Conn. 685, may counsel for or against recognizing gay persons as a quasi-suspect class.⁶⁰ We therefore turn to those factors.

Textual Analysis

Article first, § 20, of the Connecticut constitution provides in relevant part that “[n]o person shall be denied the equal protection of the law . . . .” This provision prohibits the state from treating similarly situated persons differently without sufficient reason to do so. See part II of this opinion. Whether a legislative enactment passes muster under this portion of article first, § 20, frequently will depend on the level of judicial scrutiny to which the enactment is subject, a determination that in turn depends on whether the statutory classification affects a suspect or quasi-suspect class or infringes on a fundamental right. Because the pertinent language of article first, § 20, says nothing about that test or how it is to be applied, the provision is facially neutral and, therefore, does not favor either the plaintiffs or the defendants.⁶¹

The defendants maintain, however, that the remaining language of article first, § 20, as amended by article twenty-one of the amendments, supports their contention that gay persons do . not comprise a quasi-suspect class. That language provides that no person shall “be subjected to . . . discrimination in the exercise or enjoyment of his or her civil or political rights because of religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex or physical or mental disability.” Conn. Const., amend. XXI. The defendants contend that, because sexual orientation is not included in the list of suspect classes enumerated in article first, § 20, as amended, sexual orientation cannot comprise a quasi-suspect class for purposes of the state constitution’s equal protection provisions. We reject this claim for the reasons that we expressed previously in part III of this opinion.

Decisions of This Court and the Appellate Court

This court never has considered whether classifications that discriminate against gay persons are subject to heightened scrutiny under the equal protection provisions of the state constitution. The Appellate Court recently addressed the issue,⁶² however, in State v. John M., 94 Conn. App. 667, 894 A.2d 376 (2006), rev’d on other grounds sub nom. State v. John F.M., 285 Conn. 528, 940 A.2d 755 (2008), and concluded that such classifications are entitled only to rational basis review on the basis of its reading of federal and sister state precedent. Id., 678-85. For several reasons, we are not persuaded by the Appellate Court’s analysis in John M. First, the Appellate Court decided the issue under the federal constitution, not the state constitution. See id., 678-79 n.10. Second, the Appellate Court did not apply the four-pronged test for determining whether a group is entitled to heightened protection but, rather, relied solely on case law from other jurisdictions. See id., 679-85. Third, for the reasons set forth in parts VI C and D of this opinion, the cases on which the Appellate Court did rely are not persuasive because those cases either failed to address the issue of whether gay persons comprise a suspect or quasi-suspect class; see Muth v. Frank, 412 F.3d 808, 817-18 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 546 U.S. 988, 126 S. Ct. 575, 163 L. Ed. 2d 480 (2005); Standhardt v. Superior Court, 206 Ariz. 276, 283-85, 77 P.3d 451 (App. 2003), review denied sub nom. Standhardt v. MCSC, Docket No. CV-03-0422-PR, 2004 Ariz. LEXIS 62 (Ariz. May 25, 2004); People v. Downin, 357 Ill. App. 3d 193, 199-200, 828 N.E.2d 341, appeal denied, 216 Ill. 2d 703, 839 N.E.2d 1029 (2005); failed to engage in any analysis of that issue, relying instead on the fact that, to date, the United States Supreme Court has not held that sexual orientation constitutes a suspect or quasi-suspect classification; see Johnson v. Johnson, 385 F.3d 503, 532 (5th Cir. 2004); State v. Limon, 280 Kan. 275, 286, 122 P.3d 22 (2005); or were predicated on precedent that has been overruled. See Lofton v. Secretary of the Dept. of Children & Family Services, 358 F.3d 804, 818 & n.16 (11th Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 1081, 125 S. Ct. 869, 160 L. Ed. 2d 825 (2005). Because the analysis in John M. is not persuasive, it provides no support for the defendants’ claim that gay persons are not entitled to recognition as a quasi-suspect class.

Persuasive Federal Precedent

When interpreting our state constitution, it is appropriate to consider relevant federal precedent. “We employ this precedent for guidance and analogy [in construing our own constitution, however, only] when the federal authorities axe ‘logically persuasive and well-reasoned.’ W. Brennan, ‘State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights,’ 90 Harv. L. Rev. 489, 502 (1977) (‘state court judges, and also practitioners, do well to scrutinize constitutional decisions by federal courts, [but] only if they are found to be logically persuasive and well-reasoned, paying due regard to precedent and the policies underlying specific constitutional guarantees, may they properly claim persuasive weight as guideposts when interpreting counterpart state guarantees’).” State v. Joyce, 229 Conn. 10, 20, 639 A.2d 1007 (1994).

As the defendants correctly assert, the vast majority of federal circuit courts that have considered the issue have concluded that sexual orientation is not a suspect or quasi-suspect classification, and, consequently, legislation that classifies on the basis of sexual orientation is subject to rational basis review.⁶³ These courts, however, relied primarily on the holding of Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 196, in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia statute that criminalized consensual homosexual sodomy.⁶⁴ Bowers held that gay persons have no fundamental right to engage in such conduct; id., 190-92; that rational basis review of the antisodomy statute therefore was appropriate; see id., 196; and that the Georgia legislature’s moral disapproval of that conduct constituted sufficient justification for the law. See id. Although Bowers was a due process case; see id., 190; the various federal circuit courts faced with equal protection challenges to statutory classifications based on sexual orientation have reasoned that because, under Bowers, it is constitutionally permissible to criminalize intimate homosexual conduct, a group that is defined by that conduct cannot constitute a suspect or quasi-suspect class. E.g., Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, 54 F.3d 261, 266 (6th Cir. 1995) (“[s]ince Bowers, every circuit court which has addressed the issue has decreed that homosexuals are entitled to no special constitutional protection, as either a suspect or a quasi-suspect class, because the conduct which places them in that class is not constitutionally protected”), vacated on other grounds and remanded, 518 U.S. 1001, 116 S. Ct. 2519, 135 L. Ed. 2d 1044 (1996); Steffan v. Perry, 41 F.3d 677, 684 n.3 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (“if the government can criminalize homosexual conduct, a group that is defined by reference to that conduct cannot constitute a suspect class” [internal quotation marks omitted]); High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, 895 F.2d 563, 571 (9th Cir. 1990) (“[o]ther circuits are in accord and have held that although the court in [Bowers] analyzed the constitutionality of the [antisodomy] statute on a due process rather than equal protection basis, by the [Bowers] majority holding that the [constitution confers no fundamental right [on] homosexuals to engage in sodomy, and because homosexual conduct can thus be criminalized, homosexuals cannot constitute a suspect or quasi-suspect class entitled to greater than rational basis review for equal protection purposes”); Woodward v. United States, 871 F.2d 1068, 1076 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (“[a]fter [Bowers] it cannot logically be asserted that discrimination against homosexuals is constitutionally infirm”), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1003, 110 S. Ct. 1295, 108 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1990). “Thus, the impact of Bowers ... on the equal protection claims of [gay persons was] enormous.” E. Gerstmann, supra, c. 4, p. 69. “Bowers . . . prevented] courts from finding [gay persons] to be a suspect or quasi-suspect class even if [gay persons were] able to demonstrate a history of discrimination and substantial current discrimination against them.” Id.

Because Bowers was so widely viewed as disqualifying gay persons from recognition as a suspect or quasi-suspect class, in the wake of Bowers, courts gave only cursory consideration to claims by gay persons that statutes that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation are subject to enhanced judicial scrutiny. Thus, as one court has noted, “given [Bowers’] sanction of such a severe curtailment of the liberty of [gay persons, it is not surprising that] the issue of whether states should or must permit marriage between same-sex partners has only recently come into public debate.” In re Marriage Cases, 49 Cal. Rptr. 3d 675, 703 (App. 2006), rev’d on other grounds, 43 Cal. 4th 757, 183 P.3d 384, 76 Cal. Rptr. 3d 683 (2008).

Five years ago, however, in Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 578, the United States Supreme Court overruled Bowers, thus removing the precedential underpinnings of the federal case law supporting the defendants’ claim that gay persons are not a quasi-suspect class. The court in Lawrence acknowledged that, in framing the issue in Bowers as it did, that is, “whether the [f]ederal [c]onstitution confers a fundamental right [on] homosexuals to engage in sodomy”; Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 190; the court had “fail[ed] to appreciate the extent of the liberty at stake. To say that the issue in Bowers was simply the right to engage in certain sexual conduct demeans the claim the individual put forward, just as it would demean a married couple were it to be said [that] marriage is simply about the right to have sexual intercourse.” Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 567. The court identified the real issue, both in Bowers and in Lawrence, as whether the right to liberty that gay persons share with all of our citizenry under the due process clause of the United States constitution includes the right to engage in “sexual practices common to a homosexual lifestyle” without government intervention. Id., 578.

The court in Lawrence also explained that “[t]he foundations of Bowers have sustained serious erosion from . . . [two] decisions” that were decided after Bowers, namely, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 112 S. Ct. 2791, 120 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1992), and Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 116 S. Ct. 1620, 134 L. Ed. 2d 855 (1996). Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 576. The court in Lawrence further explained: “In [Casey], the [c]ourt reaffirmed the substantive force of the liberty protected by the [d]ue [p]rocess [c]lause. The Casey decision again confirmed that our laws and tradition afford constitutional protection to personal decisions relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, child rearing, and education. . . . In explaining the respect the [constitution demands for the autonomy of the person in making these choices, [the court] stated as follows:

“ ‘These matters, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the [fourteenth [a]mendment. At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. Beliefs about these matters could not define the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the [s]tate.’ . . .

“Persons in a homosexual relationship may seek autonomy for these purposes, just as heterosexual persons do. The decision in Bowers would deny them this right.” (Citations omitted.) Id., 573-74.

The court continued: “The second post-Bowers case of principal relevance is Romer .... There the [c]ourt struck down class-based legislation directed at homosexuals as a violation of the [e]qual [protection [c]lause. Romer invalidated an amendment to Colorado’s [c]onstitution which named as a solitary class persons who were homosexuals, lesbians, or bisexual either by ‘orientation, conduct, practices or relationships’ . . . and deprived them of protection under state antidiscrimination laws. We concluded that the provision was ‘bom of animosity toward the class of persons affected’ and further that it had no rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose.” (Citations omitted.) Id., 574.

Lawrence thereafter expressly endorsed the following portion of Justice John Paul Stevens’ dissent in Bowers: “ ‘Our prior cases make two propositions abundantly clear. First, the fact that the governing majority in a [s]tate has traditionally viewed a particular practice as immoral is not a sufficient reason for upholding a law prohibiting the practice; neither histoiy nor tradition could save a law prohibiting miscegenation from constitutional attack. Second, individual decisions by married persons, concerning the intimacies of their physical relationship, even when not intended to produce offspring, are a form of “liberty” protected by the [d] ue [p]rocess [c]lause of the [f]ourteenth [a]mendment. Moreover, this protection extends to intimate choices by unmarried as well as married persons.’ ” Id., 577-78, quoting Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 216 (Stevens, J., dissenting). Thus, as the court stated, “[w]hen sexuality finds overt expression in intimate conduct with another person, the conduct can be but one element in a personal bond that is more enduring. The liberty protected by the [constitution allows homosexual persons the right to make this choice.” Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 567. Bowers' contrary conclusion, the court observed, “demeans the lives of homosexual persons”; id., 575; by depriving them of the “respect for their private lives”; id., 578; that the constitution guarantees.

Lawrence represents a sea change in United States Supreme Court jurisprudence concerning the rights of gay persons. To a very substantial degree, Lawrence undermines the validity of the federal circuit court cases that have held that gay persons are not entitled to heightened judicial protection because, as we have explained, the courts in those cases relied heavily— and in some cases exclusively—on Bowers to support their conclusions. See Witt v. Dept. of the Air Force, 527 F.3d 806, 828 (9th Cir. 2008) (Canby, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (“[b]ecause Lawrence unequivocally overruled Bowers, it undercut the theory [and] reasoning underlying [the cases that have relied on Bowers to deny gay persons heightened protection under the federal equal protection clause] in such a way that the cases are clearly irreconcilable” [internal quotation marks omitted]). In stark contrast to Bowers, Lawrence recognizes that gay persons, no less than heterosexuals, are constitutionally entitled to freedom from state interference in matters of sexual intimacy. In acknowledging this liberty interest, Lawrence rejected the notion that moral disapproval of gay persons can justify discriminatory state action that infringes on their right of personal autonomy. See Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 578 (state antisodomy statute “furthers no legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual”). Thus, whereas Bowers erected a profound impediment to gay persons seeking protected status, Lawrence removed that barrier. Gay persons, therefore, cannot be deprived of suspect or quasi-suspect class status merely because others may find their intimate sexual conduct objectionable, repugnant or immoral. In fact, after Lawrence, the social and moral disapprobation that gay persons historically have faced supports their claim that they are entitled to heightened protection under the state constitution.⁶⁵ See part V A of this opinion.

Finally, we reject the defendants’ contention that, in Romer v. Evans, supra, 517 U.S. 631-32, the United States Supreme Court implicitly concluded that gay persons do not comprise a suspect or quasi-suspect class under the federal constitution because the court applied rational basis review, rather than heightened scrutiny, in sustaining an equal protection challenge to a Colorado state constitutional amendment that prohibited “all legislative, executive or judicial action at any level of state or local government designed to protect . . . [gay] persons . . . .”⁶⁶ Id., 624. Because the court indicated that the Colorado constitutional amendment could not withstand even rational basis review, the lowest level of judicial scrutiny, the court had no reason to decide whether heightened review was appropriate. See id., 632. In the absence of any contrary indication in Romer, we must presume that the court followed its own well established principle “never to formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts to which it is to be applied.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc., 472 U.S. 491, 501, 105 S. Ct. 2794, 86 L. Ed. 2d 394 (1985). Indeed, in accordance with this general rule of judicial restraint, the United States Supreme Court previously has declined to decide whether heightened scrutiny is applicable when a statutory classification fails rational basis review. See Hooper v. Bernalillo County Assessor, 472 U.S. 612, 618, 105 S. Ct. 2862, 86 (1985) (declining to determine whether to apply heightened scrutiny when classification did not meet rational basis test because “if the statutory scheme cannot pass even the minimum rationality test, [the court’s] inquiry ends”); cf. Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, 458 U.S. 718, 724 n.9, 102 S. Ct. 3331, 73 L. Ed. 2d 1090 (1982) (declining to decide whether to apply strict scrutiny when classification could not survive intermediate scrutiny). Romer, therefore, lends no support to the defendants’ claim that statutory classifications based on sexual orientation are subject only to rational basis review.

In sum, although federal case law is nearly unanimous in concluding that gay persons are not a suspect or quasi-suspect class, those cases ultimately are not persuasive because they rely so heavily on Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 186, which has been overruled. Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 578 (‘Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today. It ought not to remain binding precedent. Bowers . . . should be and now is overruled.”). In addition, the federal circuit courts that have determined that gay persons are not entitled to heightened protection have failed altogether to reconcile their analyses with the one that the United States Supreme Court used in concluding that women comprise a quasi-suspect class. See part V D of this opinion. Indeed, in our view, the individual federal circuit and district courts and judges that have analyzed the issue most carefully and applied the standard for determining a group’s status as a suspect or quasi-suspect class most consistently with the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence have concluded that statutes discriminating against gay persons are, in fact, subject to heightened scrutiny. See, e.g., High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 376-82 (Canby, J., dissenting); Watkins v. United States Army, supra, 875 F.2d 724-28 (Norris, J., concurring in the judgment); Able v. United States, supra, 968 F. Sup. 862-64; Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, supra, 860 F. Sup. 434-40; Jantz v. Muci, supra, 759 F. Sup. 1547-51. Thus, although the weight of federal precedent favors the defendants, the weight of persuasive federal precedent favors the plaintiffs.

Persuasive Sister State Precedent

The majority of sister state courts that have addressed the issue also have concluded that gay persons are not a suspect or quasi-suspect class. See, e.g., Conaway v. Deane, supra, 401 Md. 277; Hernandez v. Robles, supra, 7 N.Y.3d 364-65; Andersen v. King County, supra, 158 Wash. 2d 21, 24; see also State v. Limon, supra, 280 Kan. 286-87 (court’s reading of federal precedent led it to conclude that classification based on sexual preference was subject to rational basis review); Dean v. District of Columbia, supra, 653 A.2d 308 (affirming in per curiam opinion trial court’s refusal to afford gay persons heightened protection under fifth amendment to federal constitution). The California Supreme Court, however, recently determined that gay persons do qualify as a suspect class under the equal protection provisions of that state’s constitution; In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 840-41; and that the reasons given by the state of California for barring same sex couples from marrying were insufficient to justify the prohibition. Id., 854-56.⁶⁷ We conclude that the state court cases that have determined that gay persons do not constitute a quasi-suspect class, like the federal cases described in this part of the opinion, employed a flawed analysis, and, therefore, they do not constitute persuasive authority.

In three of the cases concluding that gay persons do not constitute a protected class, the courts did so without applying the four-pronged test used by the United States Supreme Court for determining whether a group qualifies as a suspect or quasi-suspect class. In one such case, State v. Limon, supra, 280 Kan. 275, the Kansas Supreme Court invalidated, on equal protection grounds, a criminal statute that resulted in punishment for unlawful voluntary sexual conduct between members of the opposite sex that was less harsh than the punishment for the same conduct between members of the same sex.⁶⁸ Id., 276. Although ultimately concluding that the statute did not satisfy even rational basis review; id., 301; the court first rejected the defendant’s claim that heightened scrutiny was warranted on the basis of the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 558, and Romer v. Evans, supra, 517 U.S. 620; see State v. Limon, supra, 286-87; in which the United States Supreme Court struck down the legislation at issue in those cases as lacking a rational relation to a legitimate state objective.⁶⁹ See Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 578; Romer v. Evans, supra, 634. For the reasons set forth in part VI C of this opinion, we disagree that the court’s apparent application of the rational basis test in Lawrence and Romer has any bearing on whether gay persons constitute a quasi-suspect class.

In a second case, Hernandez v. Robles, supra, 7 N.Y.3d 361, 365, the New York Court of Appeals rejected an equal protection challenge to the state’s prohibition against same sex marriage under the New York state constitution. In so doing, the court declined to decide whether, for purposes other than marriage, gay persons comprise a suspect or quasi-suspect class. See id., 364. Instead, the court concluded that “[a] person’s preference for the sort of sexual activity that cannot lead to the birth of children is relevant to the [s]tate’s interest in fostering relationships that will serve children best”; id., 364-65; and, therefore, it was appropriate to apply rational basis review to the state’s ban on same sex marriage. Id. Because we fundamentally disagree with the court in Hernandez that a group seeking suspect or quasi-suspect class status is not entitled to a determination of whether it falls into one of those two categories unless the statutory classification at issue is first deemed to be irrational as applied to the group, however, we find the case unpersuasive. This approach is untenable because it turns the suspectness inquiry on its head: any group that is deemed to be entitled to heightened judicial protection because of past invidious discrimination has the right to have all statutes that discriminate against its members subjected to heightened scrutiny. In contrast to the Hernandez majority, Chief Judge Kaye, in dissent, engaged in the requisite suspectness inquiry, and explained—persuasively, in our view—why statutes that discriminate against gay persons should be subject to heightened judicial scrutiny. Id., 387-89 (Kaye, C. J., dissenting).

The final case to conclude that gay persons are not a suspect or quasi-suspect class without performing the four-pronged equal protection analysis is Dean v. District of Columbia, supra, 653 A. 2d 307, in which the District of Columbia Court of Appeals concluded that the applicable statutory scheme barring same sex marriage did not discriminate against gay persons, first, because marriage, by definition, is limited to opposite sex couples; id., 361 (Terry, J.); and second, because the statute was not motivated by any invidious or discriminatory purpose. See id., 362-63 (Steadman, J., concurring). Because the fact that marriage traditionally has been defined as a union between a man and a woman does not insulate from judicial review a statute that defines marriage in accordance with that definition, and because legislation that has a discriminatory effect may violate equal protection irrespective of the motivation underlying the enactment, we do not find Dean to be persuasive precedent.⁷⁰

In contrast to the foregoing cases, the Maryland Court of Appeals, in Conaway v. Deane, supra, 401 Md. 278-94, and the Washington Supreme Court, in Andersen v. King County, supra, 158 Wash. 2d 19-24, did apply the four part test for determining whether a group is entitled to heightened protection in holding that gay persons do not qualify as a suspect or quasi-suspect class under the Maryland and Washington state constitutions, respectively.⁷¹ In so concluding, both courts determined that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate, first, that homosexuality is a strictly immutable characteristic and, second, that gays and lesbians are politically powerless because of the enactment of state statutes prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination. See Conaway v. Deane, supra, 286, 292-94; Andersen v. King County, supra, 20, 21. For the reasons set forth in part V C and D of this opinion, we disagree with those cases because the distinguishing characteristic does not need to be strictly immutable and because legislation barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is insufficient to establish that gay persons possess political power adequate to counter the pervasive and extreme discrimination to which they historically have been subjected.

Although the opinion of the California Supreme Court in In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 757, represents the minority view, we agree fundamentally with the analysis and conclusion of that case that gay persons are entitled to heightened judicial protection as a suspect⁷² class. Id., 843, 847. In deciding that issue, the court first observed that the state had conceded that sexual orientation is a characteristic that (1) bears no relation to a person’s ability to perform or contribute to society, (2) is associated with pernicious discrimination marked by a history of legal and social disabilities, and (3) is immutable for purposes of the suspectness inquiry. Id., 841-42. Although California case law generally does not require a showing by the group seeking suspect class status that it is politically powerless, the state of California maintained that the court should adopt that requirement as a prerequisite to the recognition of a suspect class and, further, that gay persons did not meet that standard. Id., 842-43. The court rejected the need for a definitive or categorical showing of political powerlessness, observing that such a requirement would be impossible to square with the fact that classifications based on gender and race continue to be treated as suspect. Id., 843. The court emphasized, rather, that the most important consideration in the determination of a group’s entitlement to recognition as a suspect class is whether that group has been subjected to invidious and prejudicial treatment because of a distinguishing characteristic that bears no relation to the individual’s ability to perform or contribute to society. Id. As the court explained, “courts must look closely at classifications based on that characteristic lest outdated social stereotypes result in invidious laws or practices.” (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. We agree with the California Supreme Court that “[t]his rationale clearly applies to statutory classifications that mandate differential treatment on the basis of sexual orientation.” Id.

For the foregoing reasons, we are not persuaded by the logic or analysis of the courts that have declined to grant suspect or quasi-suspect status to gay persons. We are persuaded, rather, by the California Supreme Court in In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 841-43, and by the dissenting opinion of Chief Judge Kaye in Hernandez v. Robles, supra, 7 N.Y.3d 387-89 (Kaye, C. J., dissenting). We reach this conclusion because, in our view, the California court and Chief Judge Kaye have applied the relevant criteria most objectively and with due regard for the manner in which those criteria have been applied to other quasi-suspect and suspect groups. Although the decision of the California Supreme Court and the dissenting opinion of Chief Judge Kaye reflect the minority position, we believe that they nevertheless represent the most persuasive sister state precedent.

E

Economic and Sociological Considerations⁷³

We address, finally, the sixth Geisler factor, which requires us to consider the public policy implications of recognizing gay persons as a quasi-suspect class under our state constitution. See State v. Diaz, 226 Conn. 514, 540, 628 A.2d 567 (1993) (“[i]n effect, [the sixth Geisler] factor directs our attention to considerations of public policy”). Of course, granting gay persons quasi-suspect class status would not automatically result in the conclusion that same sex couples are constitutionally entitled to marry because, even if gay persons are accorded such status, the state still may be able to establish a sufficiently strong reason to deny them the right to marry. At a minimum, however, recognizing gay persons as a quasi-suspect class would substantially increase the likelihood of a determination that same sex couples are entitled to marry in view of the fact that the state would be required to provide strong justification for denying them that right.⁷⁴ Accordingly, we consider the public policy ramifications of invalidating the statutory scheme barring same sex marriage. For several reasons, we conclude that this factor militates strongly in favor of the plaintiffs.

First, granting same sex couples the right to marry “will not alter the substantive nature of the legal institution of marriage; same-sex couples who choose to enter into the relationship with that designation will be subject to the same duties and obligations to each other, to their children, and to third parties that the law currently imposes [on] opposite-sex couples who marry.” In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 854. Nor will same sex marriage deprive opposite sex couples of any rights. In other words, limiting marriage to opposite sex couples is not necessaiy to preserve the rights that those couples now enjoy. In this regard, removing the barrier to same sex marriage is no different than the action taken by the United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia, supra, 388 U.S. 1, when it invalidated laws barring marriage between persons of different races. Although it is true that authorizing same sex couples to marry represents a departure from the way marriage historically has been defined, the change would expand the right to marry without any adverse effect on those already free to exercise the right.⁷⁵ We therefore agree with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that “broadening civil marriage to include same-sex couples . . . [will] not disturb the fundamental value of marriage in our society” and “[Recognizing the right of an individual to marry a person of the same sex will not diminish the validity or dignity of opposite-sex marriage, any more than recognizing the right of an individual to marry a person of a different race devalues the marriage of a person who marries someone of her own race. If anything, extending civil marriage to same-sex couples reinforces the importance of marriage to individuals and communities. That same-sex couples are willing to embrace marriage’s solemn obligations of exclusivity, mutual support, and commitment to one another is a testament to the enduring place of marriage in our laws and in the human spirit.”⁷⁶ Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, supra, 440 Mass. 337.

Second, although “retention of the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples is not needed to preserve the rights and benefits of opposite-sex couples, the exclusion of same-sex couples from the designation of marriage works a real and appreciable harm [on] same-sex couples and their children. . . . [B]ecause of the long and celebrated history of the term ‘marriage’ and the widespread understanding that this word describes a family relationship unreservedly sanctioned by the community, the statutory provisions that continue to limit access to this designation exclusively to opposite-sex couples—while providing only a novel, alternative institution for same-sex couples—likely will be viewed as an official statement that the family relationship of same-sex couples is not of comparable stature or equal dignity to the family relationship of opposite-sex couples.” In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 855.

For this reason, the ban on same sex marriage is likely to have an especially deleterious effect on the children of same sex couples. A primary reason why many same sex couples wish to marry is so that their children can feel secure in knowing that their parents’ relationships are as valid and as valued as the marital relationships of their friends’ parents. “Excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage will not make children of opposite-sex marriages more secure, but it does prevent children of same-sex couples from enjoying the immeasurable advantages that How from the assurance of a stable family structure in which the children will be reared, educated, and socialized.”⁷⁷ (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, supra, 440 Mass. 335.

Third, because of the long history of discrimination that gay persons have faced, there is a high likelihood that the creation of a second, separate legal entity for same sex couples will be viewed as reflecting an official state policy that that entity is inferior to marriage, and that the committed relationships of same sex couples are of a lesser stature than comparable relationships of opposite sex couples. As a consequence, “retaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite-sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise [namely] . . . that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects ‘second-class citizens’ who may, under the law, be treated differently from, and less favorably than, heterosexual individuals or opposite-sex couples.” In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 784-85; see also Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, supra, 440 Mass. 333 (statutory bar on same sex marriage “confers an official stamp of approval on the destructive stereotype that same-sex relationships are inherently unstable and inferior to opposite-sex relationships and are not worthy of respect”).

Finally, religious autonomy is not threatened by recognizing the right of same sex couples to marry civilly. Religious freedom will not be jeopardized by the marriage of same sex couples because religious organizations that oppose same sex marriage as irreconcilable with their beliefs will not be required to perform same sex marriages or otherwise to condone same sex marriage or relations. Because, however, marriage is a state sanctioned and state regulated institution, religious objections to same sex marriage cannot play a role in our determination of whether constitutional principles of equal protection mandate same sex marriage.

F

Summary

Application of the Geisler factors does not alter our conclusion that gay persons are entitled to recognition as a quasi-suspect class. Persuasive federal and state precedent, albeit representative of the minority view, and considerations of public policy, all support such recognition. Heightened review of our state’s ban on same sex marriage is therefore appropriate. We now consider that remaining issue.

VII

APPLICATION OF THE HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY STANDARD

The test for determining whether the reasons given by the state in defense of the statutory classification at issue are sufficiently strong to satisfy heightened judicial scrutiny is settled. “Focusing on the differential treatment or denial of opportunity for which relief is sought, the reviewing court must determine whether the proffered justification is exceedingly persuasive. The burden of justification is demanding and it rests entirely on the [s]tate. . . . The [s]tate must show at least that the [challenged] classification serves important governmental objectives and that the discriminatory means employed are substantially related to the achievement of those objectives. . . . The justification must be genuine, not hypothesized or invented post hoc in response to [the] litigation. And it must not rely on overbroad generalizations about the different talents, capacities, or preferences of [the groups being classified].” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) United States v. Virginia, supra, 518 U.S. 532-33. Thus, “[i]n cases of this genre, [United States Supreme Court] precedent instructs that ‘benign’justifications proffered in defense of categorical exclusions will not be accepted automatically; a tenable justification must describe actual state purposes, not rationalizations for actions in fact differently grounded.” Id., 535-36; see also Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 472 (Marshall, J., concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part) (“The government must establish that the classification is substantially related to important and legitimate objectives ... so that valid and sufficiently weighty policies actually justify the departure from equality. Heightened scrutiny . . . seek[s] to assure that the hostility or thoughtlessness with which there is reason to be concerned has not carried the day. By invoking heightened scrutiny, the [c]ourt recognizes, and compels lower courts to recognize, that a group may well be the target of the sort of prejudiced, thoughtless, or stereotyped action that offends principles of equality found in [the equal protection clause]. [When] classifications based on a particular characteristic have done so in the past, and the threat that they may do so remains, heightened scrutiny is appropriate.” [Citation omitted.]).

The defendants posit two essential reasons why the legislature has prohibited same sex marriage: (1) to promote uniformity and consistency with the laws of other jurisdictions; and (2) to preserve the traditional definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman.⁷⁸ The defendants contend that these reasons justify the statutory prohibition against same sex marriage under the heightened standard of review that is applicable to statutes that discriminate against quasi-suspect classes.⁷⁹

The defendants’ first proffered justification, that is, uniformity and consistency with other state and federal laws, may be rationally related to the state’s interest in limiting marriage to opposite sex couples, but it cannot withstand heightened scrutiny. Although the defendants maintain that this reason is sufficient to satisfy their demanding burden, they have identified no precedent in support of their claim. Indeed, beyond the mere assertion that uniformity and consistency with the laws of other jurisdictions represent a truly important govemmental interest, the defendants have offered no reason why that is so, and we know of none. In the absence of such a showing, the defendants cannot prevail on their claim that the state’s interest in defining marriage as most other jurisdictions do is sufficiently compelling to justify the discriminatory effect that that definition has on gay persons.

It is abundantly clear that preserving the institution of marriage as a union between a man and a woman is the overriding reason why same sex couples have been barred from marrying in this state.⁸⁰ We therefore must determine whether this reason alone is sufficient to justify the statutory ban on same sex marriage.

Before doing so, however, we note that the defendants expressly have disavowed any claim that the legislative decision to create a separate legal framework for committed same sex couples was motivated by the belief that the preservation of marriage as a heterosexual institution is in the best interests of children, or that prohibiting same sex couples from marrying promotes responsible heterosexual procreation, two reasons often relied on by states in defending statutory provisions barring same sex marriage against claims that those provisions do not pass even rational basis review. See, e.g., Hernandez v. Robles, supra, 7 N.Y.3d 359-60. In the present case, the defendants’ sole contention is that the legislature has a compelling interest in retaining the term “marriage” to describe the legal union of a man and woman because “that is the definition of marriage that has always existed in Connecticut . . . and continues to represent the common understanding of marriage in almost all states in the country.” The defendants acknowledge that many legislators hold “strong personal beliefs . . . about the fundamental nature of marriage” as being between a man and a woman, and that no measure providing equal rights for same sex couples would have passed the legislature unless it expressly defined marriage in those terms.

Although we acknowledge that many legislators and many of their constituents hold strong personal convictions with respect to preserving the traditional concept of marriage as a heterosexual institution, such beliefs, no matter how deeply held, do not constitute the exceedingly persuasive justification required to sustain a statute that discriminates on the basis of a quasi-suspect classification. “That civil marriage has traditionally excluded same-sex couples—i.e., that the ‘historic and cultural understanding of marriage’ has been between a man and a woman—cannot in itself provide a [sufficient] basis for the challenged exclusion. To say that the discrimination is ‘traditional’ is to say only that the discrimination has existed for a long time. A classification, however, cannot be maintained merely ‘for its own sake’ [Romer v. Evans, supra, 517 U.S. 635]. Instead, the classification ([that is], the exclusion of gay [persons] from civil marriage) must advance a state interest that is separate from the classification itself [see id., 633, 635]. Because the ‘tradition’ of excluding gay [persons] from civil marriage is no different from the classification itself, the exclusion cannot be justified on the basis of ‘history.’ Indeed, the justification of ‘tradition’ does not explain the classification; it merely repeats it. Simply put, a history or tradition of discrimination—no matter how entrenched—does not make the discrimination constitutional . . . .” (Citation omitted.) Hernandez v. Robles, supra, 7 N.Y.3d 395 (Kaye, C. J., dissenting); cf. Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, supra, 440 Mass. 348 (Greaney, J., concurring) (“[t]o define the institution of marriage by the characteristics of those to whom it always has been accessible, in order to justify the exclusion of those to whom it never has been accessible, is conclusory and bypasses the core question [that the court has been] asked to decide”). Indeed, “the fact that same-sex couples have traditionally been prohibited from marrying is the reason [the action challenging the ban on same sex marriage] was commenced; it cannot be converted into the dispositive reason it cannot succeed.” In re Marriage Cases, supra, 49 Cal. Rptr. 3d 750 (Kline, J., concurring and dissenting).

Thus, when tradition is offered to justify preserving a statutory scheme that has been challenged on equal protection grounds, we must determine whether the reasons underlying that tradition are sufficient to satisfy constitutional requirements. Tradition alone never can provide sufficient cause to discriminate against a protected class, for “[neither] the length of time a majority [of the populace] has held its convictions [nor] the passions with which it defends them can withdraw legislation from [the] [c]ourt’s scrutiny.” Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 210 (Blackmun, J., dissenting).

Furthermore, discrimination against one group also cannot be justified merely because the legislature prefers another group. See Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Ward, 470 U.S. 869, 882 n.10, 105 S. Ct. 1676, 84 L. Ed. 2d 751 (1985); see also Hernandez v. Robles, supra, 7 N.Y.3d 394 (Kaye, C. J., dissenting) (“[t]he government cannot legitimately justify discrimination against one group of persons as a mere desire to preference another group”). Without sound justification for denying same sex couples the right to many, it therefore may be true, as Justice Scalia has asserted, that “ ‘preserving the traditional institution of marriage’ is just a kinder way of describing the [s]tate’s moral disapproval of same-sex couples.” Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 601 (Scalia, J., dissenting). Moral disapproval alone, however, is insufficient reason to benefit one group and not another because statutory classifications cannot be “drawn for the purpose of disadvantaging the group burdened by the law.” Romer v. Evans, supra, 517 U.S. 633. Thus, just as “a bare . . . desire to harm a politically unpopular group” is not a legitimate basis for a statutory classification; (internal quotation marks omitted) Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 447; so, too, is moral disapprobation an inadequate reason for discriminating against a disfavored minority. See Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 577. As the United States Supreme Court has stated more than once, “[p]rivate biases may be outside the reach of the law, but the law cannot, directly or indirectly, give them effect.” Palmore v. Sidoti, 466 U.S. 429, 433, 104 S. Ct. 1879, 80 L. Ed. 2d 421 (1984); accord Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 448; see also Bowers v. Hardwick, supra, 478 U.S. 212 (Blackmun, J., dissenting) (quoting Palmore for same proposition).

The defendants nevertheless maintain, in accordance with the teaching of Moore v. Gamim, 233 Conn. 557, 660 A. 2d 742 (1995), that this court should be “extremely hesitant to choose sides in the policy debate” over same sex marriage by “enshrin[ing] one policy choice as a matter of constitutional law.” Id., 614. The defendants contend that the authority to define marriage rests with the people and their elected representatives, and the courts should not appropriate to themselves the power to change that definition. Although we reaffirm the aforementioned principles articulated in Ganim, we do not agree that those principles dictate the outcome of the present case.

In Ganim, this court was required to determine whether the state had an affirmative duty under the state constitution to provide subsistence benefits to the poor. Id., 558-59. In declining to recognize such a duty, we stated, inter alia, that, “[although we do not foreclose the possibility that unenumerated rights may inhere in our state constitution, we are unpersuaded that our constitution obligates the state to provide its citizens with economic subsistence benefits.” Id., 593. We further stated that “[o]ur state and nation’s continuing attempt to grapple with the complex societal problem of poverty is indicative of the intricacies of the problem. On the one hand . . . some legislators believe that the best way to help the indigent is to limit entitlement programs. On the other hand . . . other people contend that such policies are misguided, as they will only increase malnutrition, crime, substance abuse and general human suffering. . . .

“[W]e are extremely hesitant to choose sides in this policy debate and to enshrine one policy choice as a matter of constitutional law. . . . Although we are sympathetic to the plight of indigent persons, the [constitution does not provide judicial remedies for every social and economic ill.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 614.

Ganim, however, did not involve an equal protection challenge to the legislative action at issue. In Ganim, rather, we were asked to recognize a new fundamental and unenumerated right under the state constitution, an exercise of authority that quite properly required great restraint lest we create rights without convincing evidence of their existence. See id., 560; cf. Washington v. Glucksberg, supra, 521 U.S. 720 (courts should be “reluctant to expand the concept of substantive due process” by “extending constitutional protection to an asserted right or liberty interest” that heretofore has not been so protected [internal quotation marks omitted]). The present case requires that we apply well established equal protection principles to determine whether gay persons are a quasi-suspect class. Because gay persons meet all of the criteria, they are entitled to recognition as a sensitive class and, along with such recognition, the right to heightened judicial protection from laws that discriminate against them.⁸¹

That recognition itself, however, does not alter the nature of marriage. It is only because the state has not advanced a sufficiently persuasive justification for denying same sex couples the right to marry that the traditional definition of marriage necessarily must be expanded to include such couples. If the defendants were able to demonstrate sufficient cause to deny same sex couples the right to marry, then we would reject the plaintiffs’ claim and honor the state’s desire to preserve the institution of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In the absence of such a showing, however, we cannot refuse to follow settled equal protection jurisprudence merely because doing so will result in a change in the definition of marriage.⁸² Contrary to the suggestion of the defendants, therefore, we do not exceed our authority by mandating equal treatment for gay persons; in fact, any other action would be an abdication of our responsibility. See, e.g., Sheff v. O’Neill, 238 Conn. 1, 13, 678 A.2d 1267 (1996) (“it is the role and the duty of the judiciary to determine whether the legislature has fulfilled its affirmative obligations within constitutional principles”).

In sum, the state has failed to establish adequate reason to justify the statutory ban on same sex marriage. Accordingly, under the equal protection provisions of the state constitution, our statutory scheme governing marriage cannot stand insofar as it bars same sex couples from marrying.

VIII

CONCLUSION

We recognize, as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, supra, 440 Mass. 309, that “our decision marks a change in the history of our marriage law. Many people hold deep-seated religious, moral, and ethical convictions that marriage should be limited to the union of one man and one woman, and that homosexual conduct is immoral. Many hold equally strong religious, moral, and ethical convictions that same-sex couples are entitled to be married, and that homosexual persons should be treated no differently than their heterosexual neighbors. Neither view answers the question before [the court]. Our concern is with [our state] [constitution as a charter of governance for every person properly within its reach.” Id., 312.

The drafters of our constitution carefully crafted its provisions in general terms, reflecting fundamental principles, knowing that a lasting constitution was needed. Like the framers of the federal constitution, they also “knew [that] times can blind us to certain truths, and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the [constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.” Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 579. Not long ago, this court made the same essential point, explaining that “as we engage over time in the interpretation of our state constitution, we must consider the changing needs and expectations of the citizens of our state.” State v. Webb, 238 Conn. 389, 411, 680 A.2d 147 (1996). This admonition applies no less to the guarantee of equal protection embodied in our constitution than to any other state constitutional provision.

Even though the right to many is not enumerated in our constitution, it long has been deemed a basic civil right. E.g., Loving v. Virginia, supra, 388 U.S. 12 (“[m]arriage is one of the basic civil rights of man” [internal quotation marks omitted]); Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535, 541, 62 S. Ct. 1110, 86 L. Ed. 1655 (1942) (same). Although we traditionally have viewed that right as limited to a union between a man and a woman, “if we have learned anything from the significant evolution in the prevailing societal views and official policies toward members of minority races and toward women over the past half-century, it is that even the most familiar and generally accepted of social practices and traditions often mask unfairness and inequality that frequently is not recognized or appreciated by those not directly harmed by those practices or traditions. It is instructive to recall in this regard that the traditional, well-established legal rules and practices of our not-so-distant past (1) barred interracial marriage, (2) upheld the routine exclusion of women from many occupations and official duties, and (3) considered the relegation of racial minorities to separate and assertedly equivalent public facilities and institutions as constitutionally equal treatment.” In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 853-54.

Like these once prevalent views, our conventional understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection. 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. To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others.⁸³ The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry.⁸⁴

The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded with direction to grant the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and application for injunctive relief.

In this opinion NORCOTT, KATZ and HARPER, Js., concurred.

1 For convenience and economy of language, we hereinafter refer to gay men and lesbians as gay persons.

2 The plaintiffs, each of whom has identified himself or herself as a partner in a long-term, committed, same sex relationship with another plaintiff, are Elizabeth Kerrigan and Joanne Mock, Janet Peck and Carol Conklin, Geraldine Artis and Suzanne Artis, Jeffrey Busch and Stephen Davis, J.E. Martin and Denise Howard, John Anderson and Garrett Stack, Barbara Levine-Ritterman and Robin Levine-Ritterman, and Damaris Navarro and Gloria Searson. Several of the couples have been together for more than twenty years, and many of them have raised or are raising children together. Although we recognize each of the plaintiffs as a member of a same sex couple, for purposes of their state constitutional claims, we treat them as individuals seeking the right to marry the same sex partner of their choice.

3 Article first, § 8, of the constitution of Connecticut provides in relevant part: “No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law . . . .”

4 Article first, § 10, of the constitution of Connecticut provides: “All courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done to him in his person, property or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay.”

5 Article first, § 1, of the constitution of Connecticut provides: “All men when they form a social compact, are equal in rights; and no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive public emoluments or privileges from the community.”

6 Article first, § 20, of the constitution of Connecticut, as amended by articles five and twenty-one of the amendments, provides: “No person shall be denied the equal protection of the law nor be subjected to segregation or discrimination in the exercise or enjoyment of his or her civil or political rights because of religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex or physical or mental disability.”

7 The plaintiffs also claimed that state laws limiting marriage to opposite sex couples violated the right of free expression and association protected by article first, §§ 4, 5 and 14, of the constitution of Connecticut. On appeal, however, the plaintiffs expressly have abandoned that claim.

8 General Statutes § 46b-38nn provides: “Parties to a civil union shall have all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under law, whether derived from the general statutes, administrative regulations or court rules, policy, common law or any other source of civil law, as are granted to spouses in a marriage, which is defined as the union of one man and one woman.”

9 General Statutes (Sup. 2008) § 46b-38oo provides: “Wherever in the general statutes the terms ‘spouse’, ‘family’, ‘immediate family’, ‘dependent’, ‘next of kin’ or any other term that denotes the spousal relationship are used or defined, a party to a civil union shall be included in such use or definition, and wherever in the general statutes, except sections 7-45 and 17b-137a, subdivision (4) of section 45a-727a, and sections 46b-20 to 46b-34, inclusive, 46b-38nn and 46b-150d, the term ‘marriage’ is used or defined, a civil union shall be included in such use or definition. Wherever in the general statutes, except sections 46a-60,46a-64,46a-64c and 46a-66, the term ‘marital status’ is used or defined, civil union status shall be included in such use or definition.”

10 For equal protection purposes, the classification at issue is sexual orientation. For ease of reference, we sometimes refer to gay persons as members of that class.

11 The plaintiffs appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court, and we transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (c) and Practice Book § 65-1.

12 As we discuss more fully in part V A of this opinion, the parties do not dispute that gay persons historically have been the object of invidious discrimination.

13 We note, preliminarily, that no party has suggested that the tost for determining whether our statutory scheme pertaining to marriage and civil unions gives rise to a cognizable claim under the state constitution is any different from that under the federal constitution.

14 We agree with the following point made by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., in its amicus brief: “Any married couple [reasonably] would feel that they had lost something precious and irreplaceable if the government were to tell them that they no longer were ‘married’ and instead were in a ‘civil union.’ The sense of being ‘married’—what this conveys to a couple and their community, and the security of having others clearly understand the fact of their marriage and all it signifies-—would be taken from them. These losses are part of what same sex couples are denied when government assigns them a ‘civil union’ status. If the tables were turned, very few heterosexuals would countenance being told that they could enter only civil unions and that marriage is reserved for lesbian and gay couples. Surely there is [a] constitutional injury when the majority imposes on the minority that which it would not accept for itself.”

15 As one prominent legal commentator has explained in discussing the establishment of civil unions: “Such a step reduces the discrimination, but falls far short of eliminating it. The institution of marriage is unique: it is a distinct mode of association and commitment with long traditions of historical, social, and personal meaning. It means something slightly different to each couple, no doubt. For some it is primarily a union that sanctifies sex, for others a social status, for still others a confirmation of the most profound possible commitment. But each of these meanings depends on associations that have been attached to the institution by centuries of experience. We can no more now create an alternate mode of commitment carrying a parallel intensity of meaning than we can now create a substitute for poetry or for love. The status of marriage is therefore a social resource of irreplaceable value to those to whom it is offered: it enables two people together to create value in their lives that they could not create if that institution had never existed. We know that people of the same sex often love one another with the same passion as people of different sexes do and that they want as much as heterosexuals to have the benefits and experience of the married state. If we allow a heterosexual couple access to that wonderful resource but deny it to a homosexual couple, we make it possible for one pair but not the other to realize what they both believe to be an important value in their lives.” R. Dworkin, “Three Questions for America,” N.Y. Review of Books, September 21, 2006, pp. 24, 30.

16 We are confused by the position that Justice Borden takes in his dissenting opinion with respect to the plaintiffs’ contention that they have alleged a cognizable constitutional claim. Justice Borden first expresses the view that the plaintiffs have set forth a claim sufficient to “trigger equal protection analysis” because of the “uncertainty” as to whether civil unions “now or soon will be viewed by the citizens of our state as the social equivalent of marriage.” Before engaging in this analysis, however, Justice Borden states that “our experience with civil unions is simply too new and the views of the people of our state about it as a social institution are too much in flux to say with any certitude that the marriage statute must be struck down in order to vindicate the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.” This latter assertion is inconsistent with Justice Borden’s earlier acknowledgment that, contrary to the decision of the trial court, the plaintiffs have set forth a claim that implicates the equal protection provisions of the state constitution.

Nevertheless, with respect to Justice Borden’s assertion that the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate, to any reasonable degree of certainty, that the institution of marriage epjoys a greater status in our society than civil unions, for the reasons set forth by the trial court, we question whether, under that view, the plaintiffs have satisfied their burden of demonstrating actual harm. Moreover, Justice Borden’s contention that there is insufficient reason to conclude that civil unions are not viewed as the “social equivalent” of marriage cannot be reconciled with his own acknowledgment that, in stark contrast to civil unions, marriage “is a fundamental and ancient social institution that has existed in our state from before its founding and throughout the world for millennia.” Part I C 2 of Justice Borden’s dissenting opinion; see also Mendillo v. Board of Education, 246 Conn. 456, 493, 717 A.2d 1177 (1998) (Borden, J.) (characterizing marriage as “unique human relationship” and “the closest entity recognized by society” [internal quotation marks omitted]). We do not see how the recently created legal entity of civil union possibly can embody the same status as an institution of such long-standing and overriding societal importance as marriage. If proof of this obvious fact were necessary, it would suffice to point out that the vast majority of heterosexual couples would be unwilling to give up their constitutionally protected right to marry in exchange for the bundle of legal rights that the legislature has denominated a civil union. In addition, Justice Borden’s assertion that the issue is irretrievably fact-bound and, therefore, falls outside this court’s authority, is surprising in view of his willingness to marshal evidence from hearsay sources not in the record of this case and to draw conclusive inferences from those sources with respect to the relative political power of gay persons. See part IC of Justice Borden’s dissenting opinion. In sum, Justice Borden’s refusal to concede the obvious hardly reflects the wisdom to which Judge Learned Hand was referring when he reminded us that judges should never be too certain that they are right; rather, it brings to mind the admonition of former United States Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter that we “should not be ignorant as judges of what we know as men [and women].” Watts v. Indiana, 338 U.S. 49, 52, 69 S. Ct. 1347, 93 L. Ed. 1801 (1949).

Finally, we also are not persuaded by Justice Zarella’s rationale for concluding that the plaintiffs have raised a cognizable constitutional claim, namely, that the statutory right to marry has constitutional underpinnings whereas the statutory right to enter into a civil union does not. According to Justice Zarella, this difference has “specific legal consequences for the plaintiffs,” and thus gives rise to “a legally cognizable or actionable harm,” because the legislature “presumably could not abolish the institution [of marriage] altogether” even though it could repeal the civil union law. The difference that Justice Zarella identifies, however, is irrelevant for purposes of the present case because the plaintiffs have not alleged, and there is nothing in the record to suggest, that the legislature intends to repeal the civil union law. Consequently, the harm that Justice Zarella has identified is purely hypothetical. We do not believe that such a speculative injury is sufficient to support a constitutional claim.

17 As we explain more fully hereinafter, claims brought under the equal protection provisions of (he state constitution are analyzed on the basis of certain well established criteria or considerations. Although those criteria and the Geisler factors are in some respects interrelated, we first address the various criteria that are unique to the equal protection analysis; see parts III, IV and V of this opinion; and thereafter review the relevant Geisler factors. See part VI of this opinion.

18 As we have indicated, the plaintiffs make no claim under the federal constitution. We note, however, that the United States Supreme Court never has decided, for purposes of the federal constitution, any of the issues raised by the plaintiffs’ claims.

19 In his dissent, Justice Zarella alone asserts that same sex and opposite sex couples who wish to marry are not similarly situated because the former cannot engage in procreative sexual conduct. In view of the myriad and important similarities between same sex and opposite sex couples, including their shared interest in having and raising a family, we disagree that the inability of the former to conceive children together defeats the plaintiffs’ equal protection challenge. Although it may be argued that the state’s interest in regulating procreative conduct constitutes a rational basis for limiting marriage to opposite sex couples—an argument that, notably, the state itself expressly has disavowed—that rationale does not answer the entirely different question of whether same sex and opposite sex couples are similarly situated for present purposes. Because same sex and opposite sex couples have the same interest in having a family and the same right to do so, the mere fact that children of (he former may be conceived in a different manner than children of the latter is insufficient, standing alone, to negate the fundamental and overriding similarities that they share, both with regard to matters relating to family and in all other respects. Thus, even though procreative conduct plays an important role in many marriages, we do not believe that such conduct so defines the institution of marriage that the inability to engage in that conduct is determinative of whether same sex and opposite sex couples are similarly situated for equal protection purposes, especially in view of 1 he fact that some opposite sex couples also are unable to procreate, and others choose not to do so. Indeed, Justice Zarella has identified no case, and we are aware of none, that has rejected an equal protection claim on the ground that same sex couples are not similarly situated to opposite sex couples, either because the former cannot engage in procreative conduct or for any other reason. In fact, many courts have reached a contrary conclusion. See, e.g., In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 831 n.54; Lewis v. Harris, supra, 188 N.J. 448, 451; Baker v. State, supra, 170 Vt. 218-19.

20 Indeed, not infrequently, the United States Supreme Court, has omitted any reference to immutability in discussing the identifying or distinguishing characteristic of aparticular class. See, e.g., Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, supra, 427 U.S. 313-14 (age); San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, supra, 411 U.S. 20, 25 (poverty); Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 371-72, 91 S. Ct. 1848, 29 L. Ed. 2d 534 (1971) (alienage). Thus, for purposes of determining whether a group is entitled to suspect or quasi-suspect class status—and, in contrast to the considerations of historical discrimination and whether the group’s distinguishing characteristic bears on the ability of its members to participate in and contribute to society—“immutability is not a requirement, but a factor.” (Emphasis in original.) J. Halley, “Sexual Orientation and the Politics of Biology: A Critique of the Argument from Immutability,” 46 Stan. L. Rev. 503, 507 (1994); see also Olagues v. Russoniello, 797 F.2d 1511, 1520 (9th Cir. 1986) (“Whether the classification is based on an immutable characteristic is sometimes an indication of a suspect class. . . . But immutability is not the sole determining factor.” [Citation omitted.]), vacated on other grounds, 484 U.S. 806, 108 S. Ct. 52, 98 L. Ed. 2d 17 (1987); Able v. United States, 968 F. Sup. 850, 863 (E.D.N.Y. 1997) (“[i]mmutability is merely one of several possible indications that a classification is likely to reflect prejudice”), rev’d on other grounds, 155 F.3d 628 (2d Cir. 1998); In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 841 (“immutability is not invariably required in order for a characteristic to be considered a suspect classification for equal protection puiposes”); Tanner v. Oregon Health Sciences University, 157 Or. App. 502, 522, 971 P.2d 435 (1998) (“immutability—in the sense of inability to alter or change—is not necessary” for determining that class is suspect under Oregon constitution), review denied, 329 Or. 528, 994 P.2d 129 (1999).

Moreover, because one’s status as illegitimate also may be changed; see, e.g., Miller v. Albright, 523 U.S. 420, 431, 118 S. Ct. 1428, 140 L. Ed. 2d 575 (1998) (recognizing that child bom out of wedlock may be “legitimated” by father [internal quotation marks omitted]); strictly speaking, illegitimacy also is not an immutable characteristic. Classifications based on illegitimacy nevertheless are subject to heightened scrutiny; see Mathews v. Lucas, supra, 427 U.S. 505-506; primarily because the status of illegitimacy is not within the child’s control and because the status bears no relation to the individual's ability to participate in and contribute to society. Id., 505.

21 With respect to the relative importance of this fourth and final factor, notably, in every case involving a group that has been subjected to a history of purposeful discrimination based on an innate characteristic unrelated to its members’ ability to participate in or contribute to society, the group has been accorded status as a suspect or quasi-suspect class irrespective of its political power or lack thereof. See, e.g., Palmore v. Sidoti, 466 U.S. 429, 433-34, 104 S. Ct. 1879, 80 L. Ed. 2d 421 (1984) (race); Mathews v. Lucas, supra, 427 U.S. 505-506 (illegitimacy); Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 686-88 (plurality opinion) (sex). Conversely, when a group has failed either of the first two prongs of the inquiry to determine whether it is entitled to heightened protection, its claim to suspect or quasi-suspect class status invariably has been rejected without regard to the extent of its political power. See, e.g., Lyng v. Castillo, supra, 477 U.S. 638 (“close relatives”); Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 441-42 (mentally disadvantaged); Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, supra, 427 U.S. 313-14 (age). Thus, as one court has stated, “[t]he significance of the [political powerlessness] test pales in comparison to the question[s] of whether . . . the characteristic bears any relationship to the individual’s ability to function in society, whether the group has suffered a history of discrimination based on misconceptions of that factor and whether that factor is the product of the group’s own volition.” Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, 860 F. Sup. 417, 437-38 n.17 (S.D. Ohio 1994), rev’d, 54 F.3d 261 (6th Cir. 1995), vacated and remanded, 518 U.S. 1001, 116 S. Ct. 2519, 135 L. Ed. 2d 1044 (1996); see also id. (Whether a particular group is entitled to recognition as a suspect or quasi-suspect class “should not be controlled by ... a group’s ability to pass or fail [the] . . . political power test. . . . [Relative political power cannot even be a particularly weighty factor, let alone a controlling one. For example, it cannot be said that males, as a group, have been relegated to such a position of political powerlessness as to require special judicial protection. Nonetheless, laws differentiating between the sexes which disadvantage males as well as females . . . must be subjected to heightened scrutiny. See Mississippi [University] for Women v. Hogan, 458 U.S. 718, 723, 102 S. Ct. [3331], 73 L. Ed. 2d 1090 (1982); Craig v. Boren, [supra, 429 U.S. 204].”). In fact, as the California Supreme Court recently has observed, current political powerlessness cannot be a requirement for recognition as a protected class because other groups, including African-Americans and women, continue to be accorded such protection even though they are not lacking in political power. See In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 843.

22 Our application of the test for determining whether a group is entitled to heightened protection under the state constitution, and, in particular, our consideration of the two subsidiary criteria of immutability and status as a minority or politically powerless group, is informed by the following observations of former United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall about that test in his concurring and dissenting opinion in Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 432. “No single talisman can define those groups likely to be the target of classifications offensive to the [fourteenth [a]mendment and therefore warranting heightened or strict scrutiny; experience, not abstract logic, must be the primary guide. The ‘political powerlessness’ of a group may be relevant . . . but that factor is neither necessary, as the gender cases demonstrate, nor sufficient, as the example of minors illuslrales. Minors cannot vote and thus might be considered politically powerless to an extreme degree. Nonetheless, we see few statutes reflecting prejudice or indifference to minors, and I am not aware of any suggestion that legislation affecting them be viewed with the suspicion of heightened scrutiny. Similarly, immutability of the trait at issue may be relevant, but many immutable characteristics, such as height or blindness, are valid bases of governmental action and classifications under a variety of circumstances. . . .

“The political powerlessness of a group and the immutability of its defining trait are relevan! insofar as they point to a social and cultural isolation that gives the majority little reason to respect or be concerned with that group’s interests and needs. Statutes discriminating against the young have not been common [and] need [not] be feared because those who do vote and legislate were once themselves young, typically have children of their own, and certainly interact regularly with minors. Their social integration means that minors, unlike discrete and insular minorities, tend to be treated in legislative arenas with full concern and respect, despite their formal and complete exclusion from the electoral process.

“The discreteness and insularity warranting a ‘more searching judicial inquiry’ . . . must therefore be viewed from a social and cultural perspective as well as a political one. To this task judges are well suited, for the lessons of history and experience are surely the best guide as to when, and with respect to what interests, society is likely to stigmatize individuals as members of an inferior caste or view them as not belonging to the community. Because prejudice spawns prejudice, and stereotypes produce limitations that confirm the stereotype on which they are based, a history of unequal treatment requires sensitivity to the prospect that its vestiges endure. In separating those groups that are discrete and insular from those that are not, as in many important legal distinctions, ‘a page of history is worth a volume of logic.’ New York Trust Co. v. Eisner, 256 U.S. 345, 349 [41 S. Ct. 506, 65 L. Ed. 963] (1921) (Holmes, J.).” (Citations omitted.) Cleburne v. Cleburne Learning Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 472-73 n.24 (Marshall, J., concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part).

23 In this regard, we note that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has suggested that suspect class status is appropriate for race, alienage and national origin because those classifications are “seldom relevant to any legitimate state interest”; Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, 54 F.3d 261, 266 (6th Cir. 1995), vacated on other grounds and remanded, 518 U.S. 1001, 116 S. Ct. 2519, 135 L. Ed. 2d 1044 (1996); whereas gender and illegitimacy have been accorded quasi-suspect status because statutes that classify along those lines are somewhat more likely to “create a sensible! legislative distinction . . . Id. Professor Erwin Ghemerinsky has posited that gender has been deemed a quasi-suspect class and not a suspect class because (1) “[t]he framers of the [f]ourteenth [a]mendment meant only to outlaw race discrimination,” (2) “biological differences between men and women make it more likely that gender classifications will be justified, and thus less than strict scrutiny is appropriate to increase the chances that desirable laws will be upheld,” and (3) “women are a political majority who are not isolated from men and thus cannot be considered a discrete and insular minority.” E. Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (3d Ed. 2006) § 9.4.1, p. 756.

24 The defendants raise the threshold claim that this state’s marriage laws do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation because gay persons have the same right to marry that heterosexuals enjoy. Although the laws governing marriage do not discriminate expressly against gay persons inasmuch as such persons are no less free than heterosexuals to marry a person of the opposite sex, there can be no doubt that our statutes do “differentiate implicitly on the basis of sexual preference.” Conaway v. Deane, 401 Md. 219, 277, 932 A.2d 571 (2007). “Those who prefer relationships with people of the opposite sex and those who prefer relationships with people of the same sex are not treated alike, since only opposite-sex relationships may gain the status and benefits associated with marriage.” Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d 338, 364, 855 N.E.2d 1, 821 N.Y.S.2d 770 (2006); accord Conaway v. Deane, supra, 277; see also Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 583, 123 S. Ct. 2472, 156 L. Ed. 2d 508 (2003) (O’Connor, J., concurring in the judgment) (“While it is true that the [Texas] law [criminalizing homosexual sodomy by two consenting adults in the privacy of their own home] applies only to conduct, the conduct targeted by [the] law is conduct that is closely correlated with being homosexual. Under such circumstances, Texas’ sodomy law is targeted at more than conduct. It is instead directed toward gay persons as a class.”).

We therefore disagree with Justice Zarella’s contention that the most that can be said about the state statutory prohibition against same sex marriage is that it impacts gay persons disparately. First, the civil union law, which expressly provides for the union of same sex couples; see General Statutes § 46b-38bb; also expressly defines marriage “as the union of one man and one woman.” General Statutes § 46b-38nn. It is readily apparent, therefore, that the statutory scheme at issue purposefully and intentionally distinguishes between same sex and opposite sex couples. Moreover, as a general matter, “the statutory provisions restricting marriage to a man and a woman cannot be understood as having merely a disparate impact on gay persons, but instead properly must be viewed as directly classifying and prescribing distinct treatment on the basis of sexual orientation. By limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, the marriage statutes, realistically viewed, operate clearly and directly to impose different treatment on gay individuals because of their sexual orientation. ... A statute that limits marriage to a union of persons of opposite sexes, thereby placing marriage outside the reach of couples of the same sex, unquestionably imposes different treatment on the basis of sexual orientation. . . . [I]t is sophistic to suggest that this conclusion is avoidable by reason of the circumstance that the marriage statutes permit a gay man or a lesbian to marry someone of the opposite sex, because making such a choice would require the negation of the person’s sexual orientation. Just as a statute that restricts] marriage only to couples of the same sex would discriminate against heterosexual persons on the basis of their heterosexual orientation, the . . . statutes [being challenged] realistically must be viewed as discriminating against gay persons on the basis of their homosexual orientation.” In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 839-40. In other words, this state’s bar against same sex marriage effectively precludes gay persons from marrying; to conclude otherwise would be to blink at reality. See State v. Long, 268 Conn. 508, 534, 847 A.2d 862 (“[t]o implicate the equal protection [clause] ... it is necessary that the state statute [or statutory scheme] in question, either on its face or in practice, treat persons standing in the same relation to it differently” [emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted]), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 969, 125 S. Ct. 424, 160 L. Ed. 2d 340 (2004). Accordingly, we reject the assertion that our laws governing marriage do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

25 In 1993, Congress enacted legislation embodying the so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy; see National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-160, § 571 (a) (1), 107 Stat. 1547, 1670 (1993) (codified as amended at 10 U.S.C. § 654); pursuant to which a service member who has engaged in, intends to engage in or is likely to engage in homosexual conduct will be ordered separated from the armed services. See 10 U.S.C. § 654 (b) (1) through (3) (2006) (providing that service member shall be separated from armed services if he or she has “engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act,” or has “stated that he or she is a homosexual or bisexual . . . unless . . . the member has demonstrated that he or she is not a person who engages in, attempts to engage in, has a propensity to engage in, or intends to engage in homosexual acts,” or “has married or attempted to marry a person known to be of the same biological sex”).

We note that, in the past, overt discrimination against gay persons by the United States government was significantly more pervasive. “Fifty years ago, no openly gay people worked for the federal government. In fact, shortly after . . . Dwight Eisenhower [became the president in 1953, he] issued an executive order that banned homosexuals from government employment, civilian as well as military, and required companies with government contracts to ferret out and fire their gay employees. At the height of the McCarthy witch-hunt, the [Department of State] fired more homosexuals than communists. In the 1950s and 1960s literally thousands of men and women were discharged or forced to resign from civilian positions in the federal government because they were suspected of being gay or lesbian.” G. Chauncey, Why Marriage? The History Shaping Today’s Debate Over Gay Equality (Basic Books 2004) c. 1, p. 6; see also Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights v. Rumsfeld, 390 F.3d 219, 225 n.3 (3d Cir. 2004) (“[although] the current statutory version of the military’s exclusionary policy [in 10 U.S.C. § 654] has existed since 1993 . . . the military has had formal regulatory policies excluding gays and lesbians since World War I and a practice of such exclusion since the Revolutionary War”), rev’d on other grounds, 547 U.S. 47, 126 S. Ct. 1297, 164 L. Ed. 2d 156 (2006). See generally Developments in the Law—Sexual Orientation and the Law, 102 Harv. L. Rev. 1508, 1556-57 (1989).

26 The Internet sources to which we cite throughout this opinion were accessed and verified immediately before the date of publication of this opinion for the purpose of ensuring accuracy. All such sources are on file with this court.

27 For example, at one time, “more than half of the nation’s states, including New York, Michigan, and California, enacted laws authorizing the police to force persons who were convicted of certain sexual offenses, including sodomy—or, in some states, merely suspected of being ‘sexual deviants’—• to undergo psychiatric examinations. Many of these laws authorized the indefinite [commitment] of homosexuals in mental institutions, from which they were to be released only if they were cured of their homosexuality, something prison doctors soon began to complain was impossible.” G. Chauncey, Why Marriage? The History Shaping Today’s Debate Over Gay Equality (Basis Books 2004) c. 1, p. 11.

28 See, e.g., Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, supra, 54 F.3d 267 (“[t]hose persons who fall within the orbit of legislation concerning sexual orientation are so affected not because of their orientation but rather by their conduct which identifies them as homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual” [emphasis in original]); High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, 895 F.2d 563, 573 (9th Cir. 1990) (“[h]omosexuality is not an immutable characteristic; it is behavioral and hence is fundamentally different from traits such as race, gender or alienage, which define already existing suspect and quasi-suspect classes”); Woodward v. United States, 871 F.2d 1068, 1076 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (“[m]embers of recognized suspect or quasi-suspect classes, e.g., blacks or women, exhibit immutable characteristics, whereas homosexuality is primarily behavioral in nature”), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1003, 110 S. Ct. 1295, 108 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1990); Conaway v. Deane, supra, 401 Md. 294 (“[i]n the absence of some generally accepted scientific conclusion identifying homosexuality as an immutable characteristic . . . we decline ... to recognize sexual orientation as an immutable trait”); see also Andersen v. King County, 158 Wash. 2d 1, 20 and n.6, 138 P.3d 963 (2006) (although court “recognize[d] that th[e] question [of whether homosexuality is an immutable trait] is being researched and debated across the country . . . and . . . offer[ed] no opinion as to whether such a showing may be made at some later time,” plaintiffs in that case failed to make showing of immutability).

29 Hernandez-Montiel v. Immigration & Naturalization Service, 225 F.3d 1084, 1093 (9th Cir. 2000) (“[s]exual orientation and sexual identity are immutable”); E. Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (3d Ed. 2006) § 9.7.4, p. 787 (“recent research suggests that sexual orientation is immutable and not a matter of individual choice”); see, e.g., Able v. United States, 968 F. Sup. 850, 864 (E.D.N.Y. 1997) (“[s]ame-sex sexual orientation persists in all societies and has proven to be almost completely resistant to change or ‘treatment,’ despite widespread discrimination and social pressure against homosexuals”), rev’d on other grounds, 155 F.3d 628 (2d Cir. 1998); Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, supra, 860 F. Sup. 426 (“[s]exual orientation is set ... at a very early age . . . and is not only involuntary, but is unamenable to change”); Jantz v. Muci, supra, 759 F. Sup. 1547, 1548 (according to “the overwhelming weight of currently available scientific information . . . sexual orientation [whether homosexual or heterosexual] is generally not subject to conscious change” and is “not subject to voluntary control” [citations omitted]); Gay Rights Coalition of Georgetown University Law Center v. Georgetown University, 536 A.2d 1, 34-35 (D.C. 1987) (opinion announcing judgment) (“[H]omosexuaiity is as deeply ingrained as heterosexuality .... Neither homosexuals nor heterosexuals are what they are by design.” [Internal quotation marks omitted.]); Commonwealth v. Wasson, 842 S.W.2d 487, 500 (Ky. 1993) (sexual orientation of homosexuals is characteristic that is likely to be beyond their control); L. Tribe, supra, § 16-33, p. 1616 (sexual orientation of homosexuals "is in all likelihood a characteristic determined by causes not within [their] control” [internal quotation marks omitted]); E. Kostoulas, “Ask, Tell, and Be Merry: The Constitutionality of‘Don’t Ask, Don’t. Tell’ Following Lawrence v. Texas and United States v. Marcum,” 9 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 565, 586 (2007) (“[i]t is . . . generally accepted that homosexuals cannot change their sexual orientation”); see also High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 377 (Canby, J., dissenting) (“There is every reason to regard homosexuality as an immutable characteristic for equal protection purposes. . . . Sexual identity is established at a very early age; it is not a matter of conscious or controllable choice.”).

30 It is difficult to discern precisely the percentage of homosexuals in the population. Studies conducted by Alfred C. Kinsey in the mid-twentieth century indicated that approximately one out of every ten men was gay; A. Kinsey, W. Pomeroy & C. Martin, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (W.B. Saunders 1948) p. 651; and that lesbians apparently comprised a somewhat smaller percentage of the population. A. Kinsey, W. Pomeroy & C. Martin et al., Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (Indiana University Press Ed. 1998) p. 474; see also High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 378 (Canby, J., dissenting) (by most estimates, 10 percent of population is homosexual). Although these figures received widespread acceptance for many years, subsequent research suggests that the percentage of homosexuals in the population likely is lower. See, e.g., R. Michael, J. Gagnon & E. Laumann et al., Sex in America: A Definitive Survey (CSG Enterprises, Inc. 1994) c. 9, pp. 174-75 (study finding that 6 percent of men and 4 percent of women were attracted to members of same sex); R. Posner, supra, c. 11, p. 295 (noting that most estimates of percentage of homosexual men in population range from 2 to 5 percent and that estimates of homosexual women in population are lower); cf. Equality Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. Cincinnati, supra, 860 F. Sup. 426 (concluding, after evidentiary hearing, that homosexuals comprise between 5 and 13 percent of population).

31 The United States Supreme Court subsequently has made it clear that sex is a quasi-suspect classification and that statutes discriminating on that basis are subject to intermediate scrutiny rather than strict scrutiny. See, e.g., Craig v. Boren, supra, 429 U.S. 197. Although Frontiero was a plurality opinion, its holding subsequently has been approved repeatedly by the court. See, e.g., Nevada Dept. of Human Resources v. Hibbs, 538 U.S. 721, 730, 123 S. Ct. 1972, 155 L. Ed. 2d 953 (2003) (explaining that “measures that differentiate on the basis of gender warrant heightened scrutiny”); see also United States v. Virginia, supra, 518 U.S. 531; J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., 511 U.S. 127, 136, 114 S. Ct. 1419, 128 L. Ed. 2d 89 (1994); Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 440-41.

32 As examples, the court noted that, as of the date of its decision in 1973, no woman ever had been elected president of the United States or appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 686 n.17 (plurality opinion). The court also noted that, at that time, no woman was serving in the United States Senate, and only fourteen women were serving in the United States House of Representatives. Id.

33 For example, in the 110th Congress, sixteen women now serve in the United States Senate and seventy-eight currently serve in the United States House of Representatives. See “Women in Congress,” available at http://womenincongress.house.gov/data/wic-by-congress.html?cong=UO. Furthermore, two women have been appointed to the United States Supreme Court. In addition, in 1973, when Frontiero was decided, only three women ever had served as governor of a state. See J. Lewis, “Women Governors,” available at http://womenshistory.about.eom/od/governors/a/govemors.htm. Since that date, twenty-seven women have held, or now hold, that position. See id.

34 See R. Longley, “Still More Boys Than Girls Being Born” (“[i]n 2003, the Census Bureau estimated a total of 144,513,361 females of all ages, compared to 138,396,524 males”), available at http://usgovinfo.about.com/ od/censusandstatistics/a/moreboys.htm.

35 For example, African-Americans “are protected by three federal constitutional amendments, [several] major federal Civil Rights Acts of [the nineteenth and twentieth centuries], as well as by antidiscrimination laws in [no fewer than forty-eight] of the states.” High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 378 (Canby, J., dissenting). The magnitude of the political progress that African-Americans and women have made is exemplified by the fact that the Democratic party nominee for president of the United States in 2008 is an African-American man, and that a woman, who had been viewed by some as the favorite to win that party’s nomination, ran a close second. Furthermore, the Republican party nominee for vice president of the United States in 2008 is a woman. Consequently, in 2009, following the general election in November, 2008, either an African-American man will be president of the United States or a woman will be vice president of the United States.

36 Indeed, it has been asserted that “[t]he predominating purpose motivating the exclusion of gay persons from state-recognized marriages is religious. . . . This may explain why the movement to exclude gay couples from the institution of marriage has been a fundamentally religious movement.” Comment, “ ‘What’s in a Name?’ Civil Unions and the Constitutional Significance of ‘Marriage,’ ” 10 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 607, 632-33 (2008).

37 Of course, we do not suggest that there is anything untoward or improper about such efforts to mold public policy or opinion, for such activity lies at the core of our democratic system. Nor do we equate religious beliefs with prejudice. Our point is simply that gay persons face steep, if not insurmountable, hurdles in changing or even modifying deeply held beliefs that their manner of sexual intimacy is morally unacceptable.

38 “According to a national survey conducted in 2000, 74 percent of [gay persons] and bisexuals reported having been subjected to verbal abuse because of their sexual orientation and 32 percent reported being the target of physical violence. [See] . . . Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Inside-Out: A Report on the Experiences of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals in America and the Public’s View on Issues and Policies Related to Sexual Orientation (2001) pp. 3-4 . . . .” In re Marriage Cases, 49 Cal. Rptr. 3d 675, 757 n.18 (App. 2006) (Kline, J., concurring and dissenting), rev’d on other grounds, 43 Cal. 4th 757, 183 P.3d 384, 76 Cal. Rptr. 3d 683 (2008); see also D. Satcher, supra (“[a]veraged over two dozen studies, 80 percent of gay [persons] had experienced verbal or physical harassment on the basis of their orientation, 45 percent had been threatened with violence, and 17 percent had experienced a physical attack”). Even in Connecticut, which has been at the forefront nationally in efforts to combat some of the most blatant forms of discrimination against its gay persons, the percentage of total anti-gay hate crimes increased more than twofold from approximately 9 percent of all reported hate crimes in 2000 to approximately 18 percent in 2004. Compare Partners Against Hate, “2000 Federal Bureau of Investigation Hate Crime Statistics,” available at http://www.partnersagainsthate.org/statistics/connecticut-2000.html, with Partners Against Hate, “2004 Federal Bureau of Investigation Hate Crime Statistics,” available athttp://www.partnersagainsthate.org/statistics/connecticut-2004.html. Recent data show that Connecticut ranks thirteenth nationally among all states in the total number of reported criminal offenses classified as hate crimes with a sexual orientation bias. See Crime Statistics, Sexual Oriented Related Hate Crimes by State, available at http://www.statemaster.com/graph/cri_hat_cri_sex_ ori_rel-hatecrimes-sexual-orientation-related.

39 In this regard, it is noteworthy that a poll taken in 1998 by the National Law Journal found that 17.1 percent of prospective jurors admitted to a bias against homosexuals that would make it impossible for them to be fair and impartial in a case in which one of the parties was a homosexual. “Juror Outlook Survey,” National L.J., November 2, 1998, pp. Al, A24-A25. By contrast, only 4.8 percent indicated that they could not be fair to African-Americans, and 5 percent stated that they could not be fair to women. Id.

40 Thus, as former United States Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, joined by Justice Thurgood Marshall, stated: “Because of the immediate and severe opprobrium often manifested against homosexuals once so identified publicly, members of this group are particularly powerless to pursue their rights openly in the political arena. Moreover, homosexuals have historically been the object of pernicious and sustained hostility, and it is fair to say that discrimination against homosexuals is ‘likely ... to reflect deep-seated prejudice rather than . . . rationality.’” Rowland v. Mad River Local School District 470 U.S. 1009, 1014, 105 S. Ct. 1373, 84 L. Ed. 2d 392 (1985) (Brennan, J., dissenting), quoting Plyler v. Doe, supra, 457 U.S. 216 n.14.

41 Indeed, as far as we know, there is only one openly gay or lesbian federal judge in the entire nation. See N. McDonald, “Queer Eye for the Ballot Box: Is Philadelphia Ready for Its First Gay Mayor” (January 17, 2007), available at http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2007/01/18/queer-eyefor-the-ballot-box.

42 Apparently, this represents one of the largest contingents of gay persons of any state legislature in the nation. See “State Legislature Has Largest Gay Caucus in U.S.” (January 23, 2008), available at http://www.komotv.com/ news/local/14133022.html (reporting that, in addition to Connecticut, states with largest number of gay and lesbian legislators include New Hampshire, with seven gay and lesbian lawmakers, and Washington, which has six gay and lesbian lawmakers). Although we recognize that Connecticut is a leader in terms of the number of openly gay and lesbian lawmakers elected to the legislature, we view that fact as indicative of the political weakness of gay persons nationwide, and not as indicative of the political strength of gay persons in this state.

43 It, is noteworthy that, in contrast to our state laws designed to protect gay persons from discrimination, federal law reflects Congress’ reluctance to address such discrimination on a nationwide basis. Thus, for example, despite repeated attempts to extend the protections of Title VII to sexual orientation, the federal antidiscrimination provisions do not ban discrimination on that basis. See generally 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy applicable to the armed forces of the United States, gay persons cannot serve in the military except under severely circumscribed circumstances. See 10 U.S.C. § 654 (2006); see also footnote 25 of this opinion. In addition, under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted in 1996 and is codified at 1 U.S.C. § 7 and 28 U.S.C. § 1738C, no state is required to give effect to a same sex marriage solemnized in another state. Federal law, therefore, provides gay persons with little or no protection from discrimination. Furthermore, at least twenty-five states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Ut ah and Wisconsin, have passed constitutional amendments banning same sex marriage, a development that many view as reflecting widespread opposition to equal rights for gay persons.

44 Cf. General Statutes § 45a-726a (“Notwithstanding any provision of sections 4a-60aand46a-81ato 46a-81p, inclusive, the Commissioner of Children and Families or a child-placing agency may consider the sexual orientation of the prospective adoptive or foster parent or parents when placing a child for adoption or in foster care. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require the Commissioner of Children and Families or a child-placing agency to place a child for adoption or in foster care with a prospective adoptive or foster parent or parents who are homosexual or bisexual.”).

45 Not surprisingly, the relevant legislative history demonstrates that the disclaimer set forth in § 46a-81r (1) was a political compromise designed to assure persons opposed to homosexual conduct of this state’s unwillingness to approve or condone such conduct. Indeed, when asked, during floor debate on the gay rights law, why heterosexuality was not included in the disclaimer, Representative Richard D. Tulisano, a sponsor of the bill, replied, “Why [is it] not included? Because maybe I want to condone heterosexuality.” 34 H.R. Proc., Pt. 7,1991 Sess., p. 2615; see also id., pp. 2614-26, remarks of Representatives Tulisano and William L. Wollenberg (addressing proviso that slate does not condone homosexual lifestyle and acknowledging that it was political compromise aimed at distinguishing homosexual behavior from sexual orientation); cf. 34 S. Proc., Pt. 3,1991 Sess., pp. 976-77, remarks of Senator Anthony V. Avallone (“One of the things—the issues that clouded . . . my judgment and others, one of the issues raised early on in this bill was does the [s]tate of Connecticut, by this bill, condone a particular activity that is offensive to a particular portion of the community and [that] is really the business of consenting adults .... I know this bill does not do that.”).

46 In his dissent, Justice Borden seeks to negate the import of § 46a-81r (1) by asserting that the provision merely reflects the state’s neutrality with respect to the legitimacy or propriety of homosexual conduct. See footnote 16 of Justice Borden’s dissenting opinion. In making this assertion, Justice Borden ignores the centuries of prejudice and discrimination that gay persons have faced, the fact that the legislature never has deemed it necessary to malee such a statement of neutrality with respect to the heterosexual lifestyle, and the legislative history of § 46a-81r (1), which, as we have indicated; see footnote 45 of this opinion; demonstrates that the provision was intended to assuage those citizens and legislators who believed that sexual conduct involving persons of the same sex is immoral, wrong or otherwise not to be condoned. Construed fairly, therefore, § 46a-81r (1) is manifestly not neutral and must be read to express this state’s preference for heterosexual conduct.

47 See House Bill No. 7115, 1989 Sess.; Senate Bill No. 208, 1987 Sess.; House Bill No. 7584, 1987 Sess.; Senate Bill No. 398, 1983 Sess.; Senate Bill No. 813, 1981 Sess.; House Bill No. 6545, 1981 Sess.; see also Conn. Joint Standing Committee Hearings, Judiciary, Pt. 3, 1991 Sess., pp. 739-40, remarks of Father Christopher Rose (proposed legislation that would become gay rights law had “been kicking around in Connecticut for more than ten years and the fact that we continue to ignore passage of this [legislation] I think perpetuates a grave injustice against the segment of our population”).

48 See 34 S. Proc., Pt. 3, 1991 Sess., p. 986, remarks of Senator George C. Jepsen (“If anything, I personally feel that the legislation does not go far enough. I would prefer a stronger bill. I would prefer bills that we saw in previous years. I think, however, the bill before us today addresses the needs of society adequately. It takes into account the difficult situation, ploys by religion and deals with it appropriately] . . . .”); id., p. 993, remarks of Senator Louis C. DeLuca (“In Senator [Anthony V.] Avallone’s remarks he said that this bill [h]as carefully crafted exceptions. It seems to me when you introduce legislation and have to carefully craft all those exceptions, you understand from the beginning that this [is] an exceptional bill and it does not fit the norm of discrimination.”); 34 H.R. Proc., Pt. 7, 1991 Sess., p. 2597, remarks of Representative Richard D. Tulisano (“[T]he bill before us represents a revised attempt, if you will, at dealing with the issue of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill . . . does not, as we have done in past years, add to [the] list of protected classes, that dealing with sexual orientation and effectively we have narrowed this bill to apply or to create a new body of law .... So, therefore, the old approach we . . . obviously took into account and made sexual orientation the broad application that was dealt with race, religion, color, as is done in most of our Civil Rights Acts. This approach is somewhat different. It is narrower. It seeks to respond to some of the issues that have been raised over the years in this debate.”); 34 H.R. Proc., supra, p. 2752, remarks of Representative Juan A. Figueroa (“[t]his is probably the most narrowly drawn civil rights bill to be passed in this state”).

49 The following comments of Justice Thurgood Marshall also are instructive in this regard: “[H]istory makes clear that constitutional principles of equality, like constitutional principles of liberty, property, and due process, evolve over time; what was once a ‘natural’ and ‘self-evident’ ordering later comes to be seen as an artificial and invidious constraint on human potential and freedom. Compare Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 [16 S. Ct. 1138, 41 L. Ed. 256] (1896), and Bradwell v. Illinois, [83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 130, 141, 21 L. Ed. 442 (1873)] (Bradley, J., concurring in judgment), with Brown v. Board of Education, [supra, 347 U.S. 483], and Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 [92 S. Ct. 251, 30 L. Ed. 2d 225] (1971). Shifting cultural, political, and social patterns at times come to make past practices appear inconsistent with fundamental principles [on] which American society rests, an inconsistency legally cognizable under the [e]qual [protection [c]lause. It is natural that evolving standards of equality come to be embodied in legislation. When that occurs, courts should look to the fact of such change as a source of guidance on evolving principles of equality.” Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 466 (Marshall, J., concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part).

50 Although that legislative determination is clear enough from the terms of the law’s provisions, the legislative purpose—and the recognition that gay persons possess limited political power—is further reflected in the legislative history. For example, Senator George C. Jepsen, speaking in favor of the gay rights law, explained that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation “is widespread, even systematic in our society .... [I]t is entirely appropriate to address this difficult and important subject in the Congress and in the [legislatures across our country.

“I believe that the mark of a civilized society is how well it addresses the needs of those least well-equipped to protect themselves and that . . . throughout, our history each generation has had to stand up and be counted on whether they're going to protect those most poorly situated to protect themselves, whether it was ... to protect political activists in the wake of World War I or in the McCarthy era, whether it was to protect against religious discrimination . . . throughout our history, whether it was the [cjivil [rjights struggle to protect blacks and Hispanics, culminating in the 1960s, whether it was the struggle for equality for women in the 1960s, 1970s and today and now we have the issue of sexual orientation.

“[CJountless gays . . . fear discrimination in their jobs, in their housing if their identity is know[n]. I know of overt acts of discrimination, whether it’s slurs, ugly slurs painted on the sides of houses or on the cars of homosexuals, whether it was the testimony of individuals before the [¡judiciary [cjommittee earlier this year, whether it, was the letters and the write-ins from countless individuals who are gay and who have faced discrimination in their lives . . . .” (Emphasis added.) 34 S. Proc., Pt. 3, 1991 Sess., pp. 983-85. Senator Jepsen’s remarks concerning the intense and pervasive prejudice and discrimination that gays have suffered for so long, their relative lack of political power, and the need for an extraordinary legislative response affording gay persons a measure of legal protection, speak volumes about the extent to which gay persons constitute “a discrete and insular minority . . . for whom . . . heightened judicial solicitude is appropriate.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Graham v. Richardson, supra, 403 U.S. 372.

51 In his dissenting opinion, Justice Borden concludes that gay persons are not entitled to protected status because they have too much political power to warrant such protection. As we discuss more fully in part V D 3 of this opinion, this conclusion is flawed because, at the time women were accorded protected status under the federal constitution, they possessed more political power than gays in this state currently possess.

52 We recognize that several federal and state courts have held that sexual orientation is not a suspect or quasi-suspect classification, holdings that have been based, in part, on the determination that gay persons are not politically powerless. See High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, 895 F.2d 563, 573-74 (deciding issue under federal constitution), reh. denied, 909 F.2d 375 (9th Cir. 1990) (en banc); Ben-Shalom v. Marsh, 881 F.2d 454, 464, 466 (7th Cir. 1989) (deciding issue under federal constitution), cert. denied sub nom. Ben-Shalom v. Stone, 494 U.S. 1004, 110 S. Ct. 1296, 108 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1990); Conaway v. Deane, supra, 401 Md. 277, 290 (deciding issue under state constitution); Andersen v. King County, supra, 158 Wash. 2d 21 (deciding issue under state constitution). In each such case, the court had predicated its conclusion on the assertion that the political power of gay persons is increasing, a fact sometimes manifested in the enactment of laws affording gay persons certain legal protections.

These cases are unpersuasive because, first, the courts applied the term “politically powerless” more or less literally to deprive gay persons protected status. As we previously have explained, such an application of the political powerlessness prong fails to account for the fact that the United States Supreme Court properly accorded African-Americans and women enhanced judicial protection at a time when they had more political power than gay persons currently possess. See E. Gerstmann, supra, c. 4, pp. 81-84 (explaining that courts should apply to gay persons same political powerlessness standard that had been applied to African-Americans and women in determining whether they constituted suspect classes for equal protection purposes). Because those courts failed to consider the political power of gay persons in comparison to the political power of such other protected groups, their conclusions were based on a fundamentally flawed legal predicate in each case.

The cases also are not persuasive because the courts applied the political powerlessness prong as dispositive of the suspectness inquiry. As we have explained, to the extent that the Supreme Court has considered the political power of a group in determining whether it is entitled to suspect or quasi-suspect class status, it has accorded that prong the least amount of weight. See part IV of this opinion.

53 Thus, in Justice Borden’s view, any statute that discriminates against gay persons would pass muster under the equal protection provisions of the state constitution if a court could conceive of any plausible justification for sustaining the discriminatory legislation, the same highly deferential standard that applies in the area of economics and social welfare. See, e.g., Batte-Holmgren v. Commissioner of Public Health, 281 Conn. 277, 296, 914 A.2d 996 (2007).

54 Justice Borden’s analysis is predicated primarily on certain language in Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., supra, 473 U.S. 432, in which the court referred to legislation affording special benefits to the mentally disadvantaged as negating “any claim that the mentally retarded are politically powerless in the sense that they have no ability to attract the attention of the lawmakers.” Id., 445. It is important to note, however, that the political influencc of the mentally disadvantaged hardly was a primary reason why the court in Cleburne concluded that the mentally disadvantaged are not entitled to heightened protection under the federal constitution. In fact, in Cleburne, the court cited several other overriding reasons in support of its conclusion, relying first and foremost on the “undeniable” fact “that those who are mentally retarded have a reduced ability to cope with and function in the everyday world”; id., 442; such that the state has a legitimate interest in “dealing with and providing for them” legislatively. Id.; see also id., 441 (observing that “the lesson of [controlling precedent] is that [when] individuals in the group affected by a law have distinguishing characteristics relevant to interests the [s]tate has the auüiority to implement, the courts have been very reluctant ... to closely scrutinize legislative choices as to whether, how, and to what extent those interests should be pursued”). The court also observed that the beneficent legislative response to the particular needs of the mentally disadvantaged, a response that the court characterized as “singling out the [mentally] retarded for special treatment”; id., 444; in addressing their “unique problems . . . belies a continuing antipathy or prejudice” against them as a group. Id., 443. Thus, the court concluded that, in light of these two considerations, heightened judicial scrutiny of laws pertaining to the mentally disadvantaged was not necessary. See id., 446.

Thus, Cleburne merely raises the possibility that, if a class historically has been subjected to invidious discrimination, but the defining characteristic of that class, like that of the mentally disadvantaged in Cleburne, bears a legitimate relation to the ability to perform in society, that class still might be deemed quasi-suspect if the members of that class “are politically powerless in the sense that they have no ability to attract the attention of the lawmakers.” (Emphasis added.) Id., 445. When, however, as in the present case, the defining characteristic of the class bears no relationship to the ability to perform in society, the mere ability of the group “to attract the attention of Ihe lawmakers”; id.; would not provide a reason to deprive the group of protected status.

55 We note that Justice Borden also fails to explain why African-Americans properly were afforded suspect class status because, at the time they received such recognition, they, like gay persons in this state, were the subject of antidiscrimination legislation. See High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, supra, 909 F.2d 378 (Canby, J., dissenting). We focus on women, however, because they have been deemed to be entitled to protection as a quasi-suspect class, the level of protection that we conclude applies to gay persons under the state constitution.

56 Moreover, although women as a group have been subjected to invidious discrimination in the form of stereotyping about their proper role and ability to perform in society, in contrast to gay persons, they have not been the object of hatred and revulsion for who they are.

57 Just as Justice Borden fails to recognize the import of Frontiero to the present case, he also fails to explain how Frontiero is compatible with United States v. Carolene Products Co., supra, 304 U.S. 144, a case on which he places primary emphasis, hi Carotene Products Co., the United States Supreme Court indicated that it might be appropriate, in some future case, to afford “discrete and insular” minorities special constitutional protection because the ordinary “political processes” might not be sufficiently open to them. Id., 152-53 n.4. We do not see how women possibly could have been characterized as a politically impotent insular minority in 1973, as that term is used in Carolene Products Co., and yet women were accorded protected status at that time.

58 To support the result that he reaches, Justice Borden turns to the fact that, at a televised “news briefing” or news conference in January, 2007, attended by legislative supporters of a gay marriage bill that ultimately was never even submitted to a vote by the full legislature, certain elected officials observed that support for a gay marriage bill in this state is growing. They also expressed optimism that such a bill might, at some point, have enough support in this state to pass and receive gubernatorial approval, support that so far has not been forthcoming. From these various statements and opinions, and from certain statements contained in a press release, apparently issued on May 11, 2007, by the cochairmen of the state legislature’s judiciary committee, Justice Borden concludes, as a matter of fact, that proponents of gay marriage in this state “now have the political power to enact gay marriage legislation” and that such legislation is “about to [be enacted].” Justice Borden further asserts that the statements of selected supporters of gay marriage in this state, coupled with the legislative advances that gay persons have made over the last several decades, demonstrate that gay persons are so politically powerful that they do not need heightened judicial protection. We disagree.

Before addressing the substance of Justice Borden’s argument, we first note our disapproval of Justice Borden’s reliance on a news conference and press release that are not part of the record of this case, have not been made available to the parties for their review and comment, and do not contain facts or information that is undisputed or otherwise appropriate for judicial notice by this or any other court. Because the parties never have been afforded the opportunity to be heard about the statements contained in the press conference and the press release—which apparently were retrieved by Justice Borden after the oral argument in this case—we have not heard the parties’ views concerning the relevance and import of the two items, if any, to the present case. Furthermore, all of the statements that Justice Borden lifts from the news conference and the press release constitute the rankest form of hearsay, and merely represent the sentiments and opinions of several selected legislators as expressed at a particular point in time and in a particular forum. Indeed, to infer, on the basis of those opinions, that a gay marriage bill soon will become law in this slate, as Justice Borden does, contravenes the prohibition against appellate fact-finding. See Weil v. Miller, 185 Conn. 485, 502, 441 A.2d 142 (1981) (“[t]his court cannot find facts; that function is, according to our constitution, our statute, and our cases, exclusively assigned to the trial courts”); see also State v. Lawrence, 282 Conn. 141, 156, 920 A.2d 236 (2007) (Borden, J.) (appellate tribunal does not assess credibility or find facts). For all these reasons, we conclude that reliance on these items cannot be justified.

Nonetheless, with respect to the conclusions that Justice Borden has reached on the basis of selected excerpts from statements made at the news conference and contained in the press release, we reject his interpretation of those statements as indicating that gay marriage necessarily is likely in this state, let alone inevitable, merely because one or more legislators suggested as much. We also reject Justice Borden’s conclusion because, in any event, statements made at a political rally by those advocating for a particular cause invariably represent a certain degree—frequently a great degree—of posturing and hyperbole that are designed to elicit enthusiasm and support for that cause. Justice Borden’s reliance on these statements from a few legislators also ignores the fact that, however hopeful or even optimistic some may be about the future legislative response to gay marriage—notwithstanding, for example, the governor’s vow to veto any such legislation—there simply is no way to know how such a bill will fare if and when it is introduced in the legislature. As we previously have observed, the ultimate failure of the equal rights amendment despite overwhelming support proves this point. Indeed, there can be no doubt that any gay marriage bill will face strong opposition in the state and in the legislature, just as it has in the past, and that such opposition will be fueled by the argument that gay marriage now is unnecessary in light of the availability of civil unions. It therefore is impossible to predict what the future holds for gay marriage in this state. In fact, the difficulty inherent in making such predictions, like the difficulty in discerning the relative political power of a historically disfavored group, is compelling reason why the political powerlessness factor warrants little, if any, weight in the suspectness inquiry, and why the court in Frontiero afforded women protected status even though imminent ratification of the equal rights amendment appeared to be a virtual certainty.

59 Thus, Justice Borden’s criticism of our application of the political powerlessness test to gay persons as “cramped” is, in reality, directed at the test as applied by the court in Frontiero and its progeny because that is the test that we apply today. Indeed, if the court in Frontiero had applied that test to women, as Justice Borden would apply it in the present case to gay persons, there is no way that women would have been accorded protected status in light of the political power that they already had possessed in 1973.

We also disagree with Justice Borden’s claim that we have “short-circuited the democratic process.” In fact, that is precisely the claim that Justice Powell made in support of his contention that the court in Frontiero should not accord women heightened constitutional protection. See Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, 411 U.S. 692 (Powell, J., concurring) (“If [the equal rights] [a]mendment is duly adopted, it will represent the will of the people accomplished in the manner prescribed by the [constitution. By acting prematurely and unnecessarily . . . the [c]ourt has assumed a decisional responsibility at the very time when state legislatures, functioning within the traditional democratic process, are debating the proposed [ajmendment. It seems to me that this reaching out to [preempt] by judicial action a major political decision which is currently in process of resolution does not reflect appropriate respect for duly prescribed legislative processes.”). We reject Justice Borden’s claim for the same reason that the court, rejected Justice Powell’s identical contention in Frontiero: gay persons, like women, are not so politically powerful as to eliminate the need for heightened constitutional protection.

60 Although our suspectness inquiry necessarily implicates many of the considerations identified in Geisler, we nevertheless deem it appropriate to undertake a separate Geisler analysis because the plaintiffs’ claim raises an issue under the state constitution that never has been decided by the United States Supreme Court under the analogous provisions of the federal constitution.

61 Article first, § 1, of the Connecticut constitution, which provides in relevant part that “[a]ll men when they form a social compact, are equal in rights,” also contains no facial indication as to whether this state’s prohibition of same sex marriage infringes on the rights of gay persons. We note, moreover, that the plaintiffs do not claim that they are entitled to greater rights under article first, § 1, than they are afforded under article first, § 20.

62 The specific issue that the Appellate Court addressed in State v. John M., 94 Conn. App. 667, 894 A.2d 376 (2006), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. State v. John F.M., 285 Conn. 528, 940 A.2d 755 (2008), was whether the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment was implicated when the state prohibited sexual intercourse between a stepparent and a stepchild of the opposite sex but not a stepparent and stepchild of the same sex, although the statutes at issue, namely, General Statutes §§ 46b-21 and 53a-72a (a) (2), were not facially clear as to whether they prohibited only heterosexual intercourse or both heterosexual and homosexual intercourse. See id., 676-77. The Appellate Court concluded that, because the civil union law does not prohibit a stepparent from entering into a civil union with a stepchild of the same sex; see General Statutes § 46b-38cc; the legislature could not have intended for § 53a-72a (a) (2) to prohibit sexual relations between such persons. See id., 678. The court thus concluded that “kindred persons engaged in homosexual relations are similarly situated to those engaged in heterosexual relations.” Id. The court went on to conclude that, although sexual orientation is not a srispect classification under the federal equal protection clause; id., 684; there was no rational basis for prohibiting heterosexual relations between stepparent and stepchild while permitting homosexual relations between such persons. See id., 685-94. Thus, the court concluded that the right of the defendant, who had been convicted under § 53a-72a (a) (2) for having heterosexual relations with his stepchild, to equal protection had been violated by virtue of his conviction under that statute. Id., 694. The Appellate Court’s equal protection analysis appeared to be dictum, however, because the court had reversed the defendant’s conviction on another, nonconstitutional ground. See id., 695 (Schaller, J., concurring) (majority should not have addressed constitutional issue because there was nonconstitutional ground on which to dispose of case).

63 See, e.g., Lofton v. Secretary of the Dept. of Children & Family Services, supra, 358 F.3d 818; Richenberg v. Perry, 97 F.3d 256, 260 (8th Cir. 1996), cert. denied sub nom. Richenberg v. Cohen, 522 U.S. 807, 118 S. Ct. 45, 139 L. Ed. 2d 12 (1997); Thomasson v. Perry, 80 F.3d 915, 928 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 948, 117 S. Ct. 358, 136 L. Ed. 2d 250 (1996); Steffan v. Perry, 41 F.3d 677, 684 n.3 (D.C. Cir. 1994); High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, 895 F.2d 563, 571 (9th Cir. 1990); Ben-Shalom v. Marsh, 881 F.2d 454, 464 (7th Cir. 1989), cert. denied sub nom. Ben-Shalom v. Stone, 494 U.S. 1004, 110 S. Ct. 1296, 108 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1990); Woodward v. United States, 871 F.2d 1068, 1076 (Fed. Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1003, 110 S. Ct. 1295, 108 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1990). But see Able v. United States, supra, 968 F. Sup. 864 (stating in dictum that “[h]omosexuals meet the criteria of a group warranting heightened protection under the equal protection clause”); Jantz v. Muci, supra, 759 F. Sup. 1550-51 (“[t]here is ... no way to . . . reach any conclusion other than that discrimination based on sexual orientation is inherently suspect”).

64 These federal circuit courts either relied on Bowers explicitly or relied on cases that were predicated on Bowers. E.g., Richenberg v. Perry, 97 F.3d 256, 260-61 n.5 (8th Cir. 1996) (relying on cases predicated on Bowers), cert. denied sub nom. Richenberg v. Cohen, 522 U.S. 807, 118 S. Ct. 45, 139 L. Ed. 2d 12 (1997); High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, 895 F.2d 563, 571 (9th Cir. 1990) (relying on Bowers); Woodward v. United States, 871 F.2d 1068, 1076 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (relying on Bowers), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1003, 110 S. Ct. 1295, 108 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1990).

65 Subsequent to Lawrence, several federal circuit courts have held that gay persons are not a suspect class. Those cases, however, generally have relied upon pm-Lawrence case law; see, e.g., Scarbrough v. Morgan County Board of Education, 470 F.3d 250, 261 (6th Cir. 2006) (citing 1997 case from Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and stating that, “[i]nasmuch as homosexuality is not a suspect class in this circuit, we cannot hold that persons who associate with homosexuals constitute a suspect class”); Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning, 455 F.3d 859, 866 (8th Cir. 2006) (discussing Romer and concluding that “the Supreme Court has never ruled that sexual orientation is a suspect classification for equal protection purposes”); Johnson v. Johnson, 385 F.3d 509, 532 (5th Cir. 2004) (“[n]either the Supreme Court nor this court has recognized sexual orientation as a suspect classification [or protected group]”); Lofton v. Secretary of Dept. of Children & Family Services, supra, 358 F.3d 818 (citing pre-Lawrence circuit court cases and stating that “all of [the] . . . circuits that have considered the question have declined to treat homosexuals as a suspect class”); and, like the preLawrence line of cases, they suffer from a complete lack of analysis of the factors relevant to a determination of whether gay persons are a class entitled to suspect or quasi-suspect classification.

66 Although the court in Romer stated that the state constitutional amendment at issue violated the federal equal protection clause because the amendment did not “bear a rational relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose”; Romer v. Evans, supra, 517 U.S. 635; courts and commentators alike have opined that the standard that the court applied in Romer was more akin to heightened scrutiny than rational basis review. See Lawrence v. Texas, supra, 539 U.S. 580 (O’Connor, J., concurring in the judgment) (noting that court applied “a more searching form of rational basis review” in striking down constitutional amendment in Romer); see also E. Gerstmann, supra, c. 6, p. 136 (“[o]bviously, the Supreme Court was actually applying a test far stricter than rational-basis scrutiny [in Romer]”); cf. In re Marriage Cases, supra, 49 Cal. Rptr. 3d 744 (Kline, J., concurring and dissenting) (“a fair reading of Lawrence renders it impossible to think that the court’s failure to explicitly state that it was applying strict scrutiny means it did not do so”); L. Tribe, “Lawrence v. Texas: The ‘Fundamental Right’ that Dare NotSpeaklts Name,” 117 Harv. L. Rev. 1893, 1917 (2004) (“the strictness of the [cjourt’s standard in Lawrence, however articulated, could hardly have been more obvious”).

67 At least two other state courts of last resort, without deciding whether sexual orientation is a suspect or quasi-suspect class, have determined that a statutory ban on same sex marriage violates their state constitutions; Baehr v. Lewin, 74 Haw. 530, 580-83, 852 P.2d 44 (1993) (statutes that exclude same sex couples from marriage discriminate on basis of sex and, therefore, are subject to strict scrutiny under equal protection clause of Hawaii constitution); Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, supra, 440 Mass. 331 (prohibiting same sex couples from marrying fails rational basis scrutiny under Massachusetts constitution); and two others have concluded that same sex couples are constitutionally entitled to the same rights as married couples without expressly deciding whether the legislature must permit same sex couples to marry. Lewis v. Harris, supra, 188 N.J. 457-60 (holding under New Jersey constitution that legislature must provide same sex couples with same rights as married couples but concluding that it would be premature to decide whether same sex marriage is required prior to legislative response to court’s decision); Baker v. State, supra, 170 Vt. 224 (holding under Vermont constitution that same sex couples are entitled to same benefits, protections and security incident to marriage but explaining that, because plaintiffs’ claims "focused primarily [on] the consequences of official exclusion from” those rights, court need not address claim that same sex marriage is constitutionally required). In addition, one state intermediate appellate court, has concluded that gay persons comprise a suspect class entitled to special constitutional protection. Tanner v. Oregon Health Sciences University, 157 Or. App. 502, 524, 971 P.2d 435 (1998). But cf. Standhardt v. Superior Court, supra, 206 Ariz. 283 (fundamental right of marriage does not include right to marry same sex partner under Arizona constitution). Because we locus on the plaintiffs’ claim that they comprise a quasi-suspect class, however, we discuss only those cases that have determined whether gay persons are a suspect or quasi-suspect class.

68 Although the Kansas Supreme Court decided the case under the Kansas constitution, the court noted that the same standard applied for deciding claims under the analogous provisions of the federal constitution. See State v. Limon, supra, 280 Kan. 301. The court therefore engaged in no independent state constitutional analysis.

69 The court in Limon acknowledged that, although Romer involved an equal protection claim, Lawrence was decided on due process grounds. State v. Limon, supra, 280 Kan. 287. The court stated, however, that “[d]espite not deciding the case on equal protection grounds and never explicitly identifying the standard utilized for its due process analysis,” the majority in Lawrence had “approvingly cit[ed] and discuss[ed] the equal protection analysis in Romer . . . .’’Id. Consequently, the court in Limon relied on both Romer and Lawrence in support of its conclusion that statutes discriminating against gay persons are subject to rational basis review. See id.

70 The third member of the panel in Dean, Judge John M. Ferren, undertook a comprehensive analysis of the plaintiffs’ claim that gay persons are a suspect or quasi-suspect class for equal protection purposes. See Dean v. District of Columbia, supra, 653 A.2d 334-55 (Ferren, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Judge Ferren ultimately concluded that the case should be remanded for a trial, following which the trial court initially would decide whether strict or heightened scrutiny of the marriage statute is required, and whether the District of Columbia “has demonstrated a compelling or substantial enough governmental interest to justify refusing [the plaintiffs] a marriage license.” Id., 358 (Ferren, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

71 Because the court in Andersen previously had concluded that the equal protection provisions of the Washington state constitution provide the same level of protection as the equal protection provisions of the federal constitution, the court did not undertake an independent state constitutional analysis. Andersen v. King County, supra, 158 Wash. 2d 18.

72 We note that, for purposes of the California constitution, classifications are either suspect or nonsuspect; the former are subject to strict scrutiny and the latter are subject to rational basis review. In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 832. Because there is no quasi-suspect classification under the California constitution, there is no intermediate level of review. See id., 832 n.55.

73 Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants contend that the history of this state’s equal protection provisions, the fifth factor to be considered under Geisler, bears materially on the determination of whether gay persons are a quasi-suspect class. We therefore turn to the sixth Geisler factor, namely, contemporary economic and sociological considerations.

74 As we explain more fully in part VII of this opinion, the state’s reasons for the statutory prohibition against same sex marriage are indeed insufficient to satisfy heightened or intermediate scrutiny.

75 Because of the significance of marriage in our society, the freedom to marry is an extraordinarily important right for all persons who wish to exercise it. As the Alliance for Marriage acknowledged in its amicus brief in support of the defendants, “children reared by married couples and married couples themselves benefit greatly from marriage—apart from any legal benefits conferred on the family. Benefits to the married couple include greater longevity, greater wealth, more fulfilling sexual relationships, and greater happiness.”

76 In this regard, the following observation of Connecticut Catholic Conference, Inc., which filed an amicus brief in support of the defendants, is relevant. “In our culture, there has been a consensus on . . . [the] unique ethical foundations [of marriage]: that the union should be for life (permanency), that the union should be exclusive (fidelity), and that the love that sustains and nurtures the union should be characterized by mutual support and self-sacrifice (selflessness).” These ideals apply equally to committed same sex and committed opposite sex couples who wish to many.

77 Several of the plaintiffs in the present case are parents of young children. In their affidavits filed in support of their motion for summary judgment, those plaintiffs share the concern that the exclusion of their families from the institution of marriage will have an adverse effect on their children, who, understanding the social and cultural significance of marriage, have been or will be forced to explain to their friends and others why their parents cannot marry. As one of the plaintiffs, J.E. Martin, stated: “We want our children to know that their family is as secure as their best friends’ families and that it is equal in society’s eyes .... We know what ‘married’ means, our neighbors and friends know what it means, and our children [now eleven and eight years old] know what it means. Marriage means a committed couple, sharing love, sharing responsibilities, supporting each other, which is what we are and what we do.” Another plaintiff, Jeffrey Busch, speaking on behalf of himself and his partner, Stephen Davis, explains: “As our son Eli [now age six] grows up, we plan to convey to him that there are all kinds of families, and our family is as legitimate as any other. But I don’t want Eli to have to explain to anyone who asks that what his parents have is something that is ‘like a marriage,’ something that is ‘almost a marriage.’ I don’t want Eli to feel different than other kids. He should not have to grow up feeling that his family is not as good as his friends’ families] because his parents are not permitted to marry. Without equal access to marriage, [we] will someday have to explain to Eli that this is because, under Connecticut law, we are deemed to be a less valid family.”

78 The defendants also rely on the state’s interest in providing rights to same sex couples incrementally as an additional justification for the statutory bar on same sex marriage. For purposes of the present case, however, characterizing the state’s interest in terms of changing the law incrementally is simply another way of asserting that the state currently has an interest in maintaining the status quo out of respect for tradition. We therefore see no need to treat this proffered reason separately from the state’s asserted interest in tradition.

79 Under the standard of review applicable to statutes that discriminate against quasi-suspect classes, we consider only the reasons that actually motivated the legislature to create the statutory classification at issue. See United States v. Virginia, supra, 518 U.S. 532-33. Consequently, although several amici curiae, as well as Justice Zarella in his dissenting opinion have articulated reasons in justification of our statutory scheme limiting marriage to opposite sex couples in addition to those identified by the defendants, we limit our review to the reasons that, in fact, prompted the legislature to enact the civil union law. We note, however, that none of those additional reasons proffered in support of our statutory scheme constitutes the kind of exceedingly persuasive justification required to warrant the classification at issue in the present case, including Justice Zarella’s assertion regarding the state’s purported interest in “privileging] and regulat[ing] procreative conduct . . . .” To whatever extent that interest might constitute a rational basis for limiting marriage to opposite sex couples, it certainly does not represent a strong or overriding reason for the classification because allowing same sex couples to marry in no way undermines any interest that the state may have in regulating procreative conduct between opposite sex couples.

Furthermore, contrary to the unsupported suggestion of Justice Zarella, we most certainly do not believe that “anyone who opposes same sex marriage must harbor animus toward gay persons”; footnote 12 of Justice Zarella’s dissenting opinion; and nothing in this opinion warrants such a suggestion. We, no less than Justice Zarella, appreciate the fact that same sex marriage is a subject about which persons of good will reasonably and sincerely disagree.

80 This conclusion is amply supported by the legislative history of the civil union law. Although a majority of the legislators ultimately agreed to grant same sex couples all of the rights and privileges that married couples enjoy, creating a separate legal entity for that purpose was the overarching concern of many of the legislators who spoke and voted in favor of the measure recognizing civil unions. As one legislator explained, the critical task before the General Assembly was to determine how to extend rights to same sex couples in such a manner that permitted members of the legislature to return to their respective districts and inform their constituencies that “we didn’t . . . do it in a way that you [would find] offensive either to your core beliefs, to your religious beliefs, or to your view of what marriage is.” 48 H.R. Proc., Pt. 7, 2005 Sess., p. 2002, remarks of Representative Robert M. Ward.

81 We note that the defendants’ legislative deference argument was used by the commonwealth of Virginia in Loving v. Virginia, supra, 388 U.S. 1, to urge the United States Supreme Court to uphold the Virginia law barring interracial marriage. See M. Bonauto, S. Murray & B. Robinson, “The Freedom to Marry for Same-Sex Couples: The Reply Brief of Plaintiffs Stan Baker et al. in Baker et al. v. State of Vermont,” 6 Mich. J. Gender & L. 1, 40 n.143 (1999) (commonwealth argued that court “had no authority to evaluate the wisdom of Virginia’s race restriction in marriage, and that the social theories and research surrounding interracial marriage were too complex and controversial for judicial, rather than legislative review”). The argument was not persuasive in Loving, and it is not persuasive here. Although legislative enactments generally are entitled to deference, our equal protection jurisprudence, in particular, the suspectness test itself, incorporates that important principle.

82 Until relatively recently, “it remained the prevailing doctrine that government, both federal and state, could withhold from women opportunities accorded men so long as any ‘basis in reason’ could be conceived for the discrimination.” United States v. Virginia, supra, 518 U.S. 531. The state would have us apply a test under which the statutory ban on same sex marriage would survive judicial scrutiny so long as there were any “basis in reason” for the prohibition. As a quasi-suspect class, gay persons, no less than women, are entitled to a more searching judicial review of that statutory prohibition, as well as any other classification that singles them out for discriminatory treatment.

83 As we previously observed, in his dissenting opinion, Justice Borden asserts that “[i]t is the unfortunate consequence of the majority opinion that it has short-circuited the democratic process.” For the reasons that we set forth previously; see footnote 59 of this opinion; we disagree with Justice Borden’s criticism. We note, however, that, like Justice Borden, we take our responsibility as judges very seriously, with a full appreciation of the proper limits of the role of the judiciary in our tripartite form of government. Although that role frequently entails the exercise of judicial restraint, we cannot shirk what we view as our duty to strike down an unconstitutional statute in the name of such restraint, or because our decision may be controversial or unpopular in some quarters. We are content that, ultimately, our decision, like that of Justice Borden, will be judged on the basis of its adherence to fundamental constitutional principles and not on any suggestion that we are either unaware or unmindful of the court’s proper role in our democratic system.

84 We note that this case only addresses the state’s prohibition against same sex marriage, a ban that we conclude violates the state constitution. Our holding does not affect the recognition of civil unions in this state.