An electrical connector system is described, of the type that includes a latching arrangement for releasably holding a cover of a first connector to a second connector, which includes a pivoting latch that is resiliently biased against pivoting without the use of a spring. The cover (12, FIG. 1) has a pair of latch support brackets (80, 82) that are resiliently deflectable slightly together and apart. The latch has opposite parts each lying adjacent to one of the brackets and has a trunnion received in a hole in the bracket to pivot about a pivot axis (36) thereon. Each bracket has a slot (90, FIG. 3) extending radially with respect to the pivot axis (36), and each latch part has a rib (108) partially received in a slot, with each side (110, 112) of the rib being angled from parallelism with the pivot axis. As the latch pivots, the ribs deflect the brackets apart, to provide a spring force urging the latch to pivot back.