Vermont legalizes gay marriage via legislation

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont, which invented civil unions, on Tuesday became a pioneer again as the first state to legalize gay marriage through a legislature’s vote, suggesting growing popular acceptance of the idea.

The House barely achieved the votes necessary to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill that will allow gays and lesbians to marry beginning Sept. 1. Four states now have same-sex marriage laws and other states soon could follow suit.

Bills to allow same-sex marriage are currently before lawmakers in New Hampshire, Maine, New York and New Jersey. The three other states that currently allow same-sex marriage – Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa – each moved to do so through the courts, not legislatures.

“For a popularly elected legislature to make this decision is a much more democratic process” because lawmakers have to answer to the voters every other November, said Eric Davis, a retired Middlebury College political science professor.

Courts typically deal with arcane points of constitutional law. While legislatures debate some of the same principles, the process may become much more personal. In Vermont, some of the most gripping debate came when gay and lesbian lawmakers took to the House floor last Thursday and told their own personal love stories.

Getting gay marriage approved in a political, rather than purely legal, forum is a big step, said Boston University law professor Linda McClain, an expert on family law and policy. “What may give courage to other legislatures is that this legislature managed to do it,” she said.

Opponents said they, too, believe activists will be emboldened in other states. The action comes just days after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that not permitting gay marriage there was unconstitutional.

“To the millions of Americans who care about marriage, we say get ready: President Obama and Democrats will use Vermont as an excuse to overturn the bipartisan federal Defense of Marriage Act,” said Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, which waged a radio campaign against the measure. “The next step is to ask the Supreme Court to impose gay marriage on all 50 states.”

To date, the same-sex marriage movement’s main gains have been in New England, which some attribute to Yankee liberalism and the gradual acceptance of gay relationships after Vermont’s groundbreaking civil unions law took effect in 2000.

Douglas had announced his intent to veto the gay marriage bill two weeks ago, saying he believed marriage should be limited to a man and a woman, and calling the issue a distraction during a time when economic and budget issues were more important.

In Tuesday’s vote, a “yes” was needed from two-thirds of those present to override the governor’s veto. The goal was easily achieved in the Senate, which voted 23-5, but in the House it was much closer, 100-49.

The speaker’s announcement of the results to a packed Statehouse chamber, set off whistles and cheers among supporters whose hopes had been temporarily dashed last month when the Republican governor announced he would veto the measure if it passed the Legislature.