Vermont is first state to approve gay marriage legislatively

MONTPELIER, Vt. (ABP) — On April 7, Vermont became the first jurisdiction in the United States to successfully legalize same-sex marriage through legislative means.

The decision comes less than five days after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously overturned a law banning gay marriage in that state, and on the same day that the District of Columbia Council voted 12-0 to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

By a vote of 100-49, members of the Vermont House of Representatives provided the necessary two-thirds majority necessary to override Republican Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a same-sex marriage bill the chamber had passed just days before.

“I have never felt more proud of Vermont as we become the first state in the country to enact marriage equality not as the result of a court order, but because it is the right thing to do,” said a statement from Tem Shumlin, president pro tem of the Vermont Senate. That chamber voted 23-5 for the override just before their House colleagues completed the deal.

The outcome was in doubt until close to the end of the vote, because the original bill had passed the Vermont House a few votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed. But a handful of Democratic legislators who had voted against the original bill decided to support their caucus on the override. Meanwhile, none of the House Republicans who had supported the original bill switched their votes to oppose the override.

Douglas said that, while he expected his veto might be overridden, he was nonetheless saddened by the outcome.

"What really disappoints me is that we have spent some time on an issue during which another thousand Vermonters have lost their jobs," he said, according to the Burlington Free Press. "We need to turn out attention to balancing a budget without raising taxes, growing the economy, putting more people to work."

The Green Mountain State joins Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa as the only jurisdictions in the United States with legal same-sex marriage. California briefly legalized gay marriage last year after a ruling by the state’s highest court, but voters passed a constitutional amendment in November that overturned the decision.

All the other states’ decisions to legalize gay marriage were also forced by court decisions, causing gay-marriage opponents to claim that “activist judges” were illegitimately interpreting state constitutional provisions.

Vermont has long been one of the nation’s most liberal states on gay-rights issues. In 2000, gay couples in Vermont became the first in the country to enjoy nearly identical rights and responsibilities to marriage under civil unions. But many gay-rights proponents argued that the separate-but-equal status accorded to gays under civil unions was unjust and inherently discriminatory.

Same-sex couples can enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships in several other states and cities across the country. But federal law does not recognize any rights, responsibilities or protections accruing to same-sex couples thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law in 1996.

In the D.C. move, the council’s decision to have the District recognize marriages performed elsewhere improves the status of Washington’s same-sex couples, who before could only join a domestic-partnership registry. But it may set up a federal showdown over same-sex marriage, as Congress has final veto power over any D.C. law.

–Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.

Related ABP stories:

Iowa Supreme Court says state cannot deny marriage to gays (4/3)

Gay marriage moves ahead in Calif. after state Supreme Court ruling (5/15/2008)