BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Connecticut’s governor has nominated an openly gay man to serve as a jurist on the state’s Supreme Court, the CT Mirror reports. 
“The notion that one day I might sit as a member of that court is something I couldn’t have imagined,” says Andrew J McDonald, who is set to become the court’s first out gay justice. According to the Mirror, McDonald has been a close confidant of Governor Dannel P Malloy, who had promised, upon taking office two years ago, to make the courts as diverse as Connecticut’s society.
Before he became a legislator, McDonald was a city attorney in Stamford when Malloy was mayor. He ran for state senator as an openly gay politician in 2002 and was co-chairman of the judiciary committee in 2005, when the legislature passed a civil unions law that gave many of the same rights to same-sex couples as marriage, a right the state Supreme Court gave gay couples in 2008, the Mirror adds.
Like Malloy, McDonald was “a supporter in the legislature of gay marriage, transgender rights and the abolition of the death penalty.”
McDonald’s selection was praised by Republican senators. “While Andrew and I have had considerable political differences over the years, I have always respected his commitment to public service and the law,” Senate Minority Leader John McKinney is quoted as saying. “He is qualified and I am confident he will uphold the state constitution and carry out his responsibilities as a Supreme Court Justice with the highest degree of impartiality and integrity.”
Landing image: CT Mirror
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