Vermont Legislature Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
DC Council also votes to recognize gay unions from other states.
Hot on the heels of last week's Iowa Supreme Court ruling that a ban on gay marriage there was unconstitutional, Vermont has also legalized same-sex marriage.
The New England state, which in 2000 became the first in the country to adopt civil unions for gay couples, came to the decision today when the Vermont Legislature successfully overrode Governor Jim Douglas's veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry.
In order to override the governor's veto, the house needed a two-thirds vote. Last week, they came up four votes shy. But today, they managed to achieve the exact number required when several house members who voted against the override last week switched sides to support it. The final vote was 100 to 49.
With this decision, Vermont becomes the first state to legalize gay marriage through a legislative action, rather than a court ruling, and the fourth state overall to legalize same-sex marriages. The other states, in addition to Iowa, are Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Providing gay rights proponents with even more reason to celebrate, the D.C. Council voted today to recognize same-sex unions performed in other states, a measure that New York has already adopted.
Additional gay rights rulings may soon be coming, as New Hampshire has already approved gay marriage in the House (and now just awaits action in the Senate), while Maine and New Jersey are currently in the midst of debating same-sex marriage legislation.
But while these measures are surely historic, and certainly momentum-building, gay rights proponents still face many more hurdles, including 29 states with constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and the1996 federal "Defense of Marriage Act" which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Discussion
Oh, that was odd. I don't see their point legalizing same sex marriage. Here's a little trivia for you people – ever wondered what the smallest state capital is? The smallest state capital is Montpelier, Vermont. It has an area of 10 square miles and a population of just over 8,000. The nearest national capital in size is St. George's, capital of Grenada, with a population of about 7,700. The largest state capital, by comparison is Phoenix, Arizona, which has a population of about over 5 million. The town was settled in the late 18th century, and incorporated as a city in 1895, though it previously had been an unincorporated township for over 100 years. (It means a town is there, but doesn't have the right paperwork.) However, the smallest state capital is a full service town – in a region perhaps worth payday loans to go see.
Of course this was (is) the next logical step . . . why shouldn't gays and lesbians be as miserable as hetero couples? I can't wait to see what the custody battles look like when paradise gives way . . . welcome to our world.
