Cidney Dutton: As reported by the Associated Press, nearly 200 Justices of the Peace of Connecticut gathered for a crash course on “civil unions,” which will become legal in the state on October 1st. At the conference, attendees were advised to pronounce couples “partners in life” rather than “husband and wife” at the end of the ceremony. Among other things discussed, it was decided that transgendered people should be referred to as the gender on their birth certificates. Some justices and clergy have chosen not to perform civil unions because of their religious beliefs, and under the new law, performing the ceremony is not obligatory in such cases. However, after consulting a priest of all people, one justice changed her mind. “This has nothing to do with religion,” she concluded, after a priest convinced her that these were just “civil ceremonies.”