Vermont legalizes gay marriage

[rm]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/07/us/AP-GayMarriage-Vermont.html

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage -- and the first to do so with a legislature's vote.

The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

I love seeing this moving forward state by state.

And now if we could just get California back in order. :/

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

You know, I wonder if the fact that Prop 8 happened is part of the reason all of this is happening. We damn near got same-sex marriage passed this year and a big part of it was wanting to "beat" CA to the punch. At this rate, we may still do it...

The momentum created in the movement from such a stunning loss in CA can't be discounted as insignificant in these cases. Also, it makes it less a liberal coasts deal, lets other states do it without feeling like they're being ham stringed into it.

At least, that's the silver lining I see from my perch in a Fly Over State.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I think Iowa changes a lot by being non-coastal.

I think Vermont changes a lot by having such a weird mix of liberals and conservatives and being a legislature vote that overroad the governor.

I think DC changes a lot in recognizing the marriages in other states, because DC is almost entirely African-American, and that might help people not make the CA Prop 8 blame discussion about race.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

The Vermont situation is nearly identical to what happened here, except we missed it by a few votes. Just a few, though. Next time it comes up, and it does every year, we're getting it. (Piece of trivia: We were actually the second state to legally marry same sex couples. I think there are 26. An injunction was put on it. It wasn't even a judge who said people had to start doing it. One of the county clerk's offices just started issuing certificates.)

I think DC and Iowa are game changers in ways that many conservatives aren't going to appreciate for some time.

[eac.livejournal.com]

All I can say about this is: You rock, non-coastal people!