Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Homosexuality, Law, Legislation, Marriage, Sexuality, Vermont
And this time it was done through the legislative branch. So this is a much more significant win for equal rights advocates because people can’t pin this on “activist” judges.
The Vt. Senate voted to override the governor’s veto of the same-sex marriage bill. This morning, the Senate voted 23 to 5 to override that veto. Two senators were absent and Washington County Republican Bill Doyle who had initially supported same sex, this time voted to sustain the veto.The Vt. House voted around 11 a.m. to override the veto. The vote was 100-49. 100 votes were needed. Rep. Sonny Audette of South Burlington did not vote. It wasn’t clear whether he intended to vote to override. Audette opposed gay marriage but also opposed the governor’s early announcement of a veto as “interference.”
Vermont is now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage, but the first to do so with a legislature’s approval. Approval of gay marriage in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa came from the courts.
So, think this issue be front and center in 2012?
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 and is filed under Homosexuality, Law, Legislation, Marriage, Sexuality, Vermont. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 7th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Depends. Will democrats be pushing a federal mandate, or supporting the ongoing right of each state to set its own policy?
If the former, then yes, it will be an issue. If the latter, then no.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I love Gay Days at Donklephant. It is like a naughty cyber-parade. All you need is a giant transvestite on stilts with a habit and clown-suit dancing across the screen. Is there anyway you can give your readers some warning?…it’s like accidentally walking into the tent on Brokeback Mountain. Hang a sock on the door or something.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
This is the right way to do it. Good for the Vermonters.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Guys there is a great LGBT civil rights organization called the Empowering Spirits Foundation. They are very creative in how they approach this hot topic issue of gay marriage, in that they engage in service oriented activities in communities typically opposed to equal rights to foster thought and change for LGBT equality.
A friend of mine told me about it and I thought it was a great, positive approach to the issue. We had so much fun at the last event and it was great to give back to the community. Plus it was great to converse with others on the other side of the table in a way that wasn’t confrontational.
Anyway, this can be such a heated issue and I thought this was a unique approach.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Empowering-Spirits-Foundation/49288966338
April 7th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
It’s great to see Vermont grant equality through the legislature than through the courts, but the courts serve a purpose of protecting minorities from majorities when states try to legislate religious dogma into their statues and constitutions.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:39 am
The courts have done a bang-up job of motivating something like thirty states to elevate their opposite-sex-marriage-only statutes up to the level of state constitutional enshrinement. For every Massachussets or Iowa, there are 8 or 10 Nebraskas and Californias. The No on Prop 8 people blame the nastiness of Prop 8 supporters for the referendum’s passage, but the nastiness of the No on 8 crowd had just as much to do with it, by generating backlash among people who ordinarily might well have been persuaded to their side.
So please pardon me if I don’t worship the cram-down activist-court triumphalism coupled with the “you’re a homophobe bigot if you don’t support us 100%” approach, but do find the Vermont legislature’s actions a very welcome breath of fresh air on the subject. Good for Vermont!