Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage

So recently Vermont’s House of Representatives and Senate both voted to pass a bill to legalize gay marriage. In that vote, the House results were 95-52.  Governor Jim Douglas, however, vetoed the bill when it got to his office. Today, the House voted 100-49 to override the veto and pass the bill into law (the veto had already been overridden in Vermont’s Senate 26-4). With that, Vermont becomes the first state to allow gay marriage through legislative action. The law will take effect in September. This news comes a few days after Iowa also began to allow gay marriage; on Friday the Iowa Supreme Court voided a state law banning same-sex marriages.

The discussion in Vermont was particularly personal; “gay and lesbian lawmakers took to the House floor last Thursday and told their own personal love stories.”* I can’t say I have been following this closely, so I will refrain from saying anything more than that it seems Vermont has taken a big step in the fight for equal rights for same-sex couples and, while opponents will probably continue to fight against marraige equality in Vermont, the significance of the law passing though the legislature, not the courts, likely a sign of more equality in the future.

For more coverage of the battle over same-sex marriage, check out:

*The news report on Vermont’s legislation
The news report on the Iowa Court Ruling
The NYTimes Topics Page for Same-Sex Marriage

Congrats to all the same-sex couples in Vermont who will now have the opportunity to wed.