Vermont Could Be Third State To Approve Gay Marriage

There will be hearings this week in the state that, in 2000, was the first to grant civil unions to gays.

Democratic leaders, who control both chambers of the Vermont Legislature, pledged earlier this month to pass a gay-marriage bill before adjournment in May. The State Senate judiciary committee is taking testimony on the legal, social and practical implications of same-sex marriage and is to hear from the public Wednesday night at the State Capitol.

Governor Jim Douglas, a Republican, says civil unions go far enough, but it’s not clear if he’d veto a gay marriage bill and, if he does, it’s uncertain if there’d be enough votes to override the veto.  More than a dozen legislators were voted out of office after they supported civil unions in 2000.

Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states that sanction gay marriage, and that advancement was achieved by court rulings in each case, not by legislative action.  New Hampshire is also working towards a gay marriage bill.  The problem with domestic partnerships is that they don’t confer the same rights as marriage, particularly when it comes to health care.  Hopefully the inevitability of this level of equality is assured; it’s a shame that something so obviously needed should even be debated.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.