Today, July 1, is Connecticut’s Day!
Welcome to the Golden Circle! The Big Ten! The 10th State to acknowledge and restore the right of all its state-born adoptees to their Original Birth Certificates.
It’s been a long struggle, and you won! Grassroots activists in Connecticut led by Access Connecticut (not affiliated with Bastard Nation) supported by like-minded organizations throughout the country, friends, and allies held the line and refused to take crumbs, Hundreds of organizations, agencies, and individuals submitted testimony, letters, and endorsements to the legislature. The only organized opposition came from (surprise!) Catholic Charities. Ironically, two days ago, the governor of Arizona signed a shameful, restrictive, reactionary, adoptaphobic bill that black-holes its own adoptees from obtaining their OBCs if they were born between 1968-2021; thus maintaining the archaic groveling court-order mandate that Connecticut overturned. (More about that in a separate post!)
Access Connecticut has posted an information sheet on the law with instructions on how to apply for your OBC. You can read it here. The link is also posted on the Bastard Nation Connecticut State page
Only one OBC bill remains live this year: Massachusetts. We hope that the Connecticut restoration will spur victory there. If it does, that means New England is tied up in a nice red bow making it the regional leader in adoptee rights to records, history, and identity–except for Vermont, which years ago conceded to deform which will be hard to reverse.
Again, congratulations Connecticut!
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
