In The Blogs

More Gay Marriage

| Tue Apr. 7, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

More good news on the same-sex marriage front: the Vermont legislature has voted to override Gov. Jim Douglas's veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. Score one more for the good guys.

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here.

Comments

vermont

Submitted by ceenik on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 9:14 AM PDT.

very good news! --ceenik

While they're at it they

Submitted by Anonymous123 (not verified) on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 9:23 AM PDT.

While they're at it they should pass the NPV bill with a veto-proof majority.

Way to Go Vermont!

Submitted by Sam (not verified) on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 9:48 AM PDT.

I surely hope that everyone in Vermont is Cheering for Liberty! Hooray!

We're ecstatic

Submitted by gyrfalcon on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 1:27 PM PDT.

Most of us anyway. I scared the wits out of a bunch of cows when the news came over the radio as I was driving into town and I couldn't stop myself whooping and blasting the horn. I like to think that happened in quite a few places around the state. It's not just a matter of hippy-dippy refugees from the cities, either. Most long-time rural Vermonters have "live and let live" in their bones. Some of them are uneasy with the idea of gay marriage, but they wouldn't approve of banning it, nor would they care how their rep voted on it as long as he/she was right on the latest dairy bill. My state senator is a conservative Dem., an older gentleman who's a retired farmer, and he was postively giddy with pride about getting this bill passed into law. Dunno why Vermonters are different from most other states' rural folk, but they are. (Vermonters sure do "cling" to their guns, but not their churches. We just came out as the "least religious" state in the union in a recent survey. And we take huge pride in the fact that we're the only state in the union Bush Jr. never dared set foot in.)

It's even better than you say, Kevin.

Submitted by Brian on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 10:48 AM PDT.

This was the work of Vermont's legislature, not it's courts. No "unelected judges overruling the will of people" complaints will wash here.

Although I've already seen

Submitted by QMF (not verified) on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 12:00 PM PDT.

Although I've already seen one comment (an online Vermont paper? Can't remember...) demanding to Take the Vote to the People, just like California. Some people will never be reasonable.

Oh, good grief

Submitted by Brian on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 12:16 PM PDT.

Two things, 1. This is what we elect legislators to do - legislate. 2. It's hard to imagine that the populace which elected a legislature that overwhelmingly approved a policy would overturn it in a referendum.

Referendum

Submitted by gyrfalcon on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 1:18 PM PDT.

Was an issue during the deliberations, but mostly intended as diversionary and divisive by the proponents. Although it's clear from recent polling on the issue that Vermonters are now by a wide majority cool with same-sex marriage (we call it "marriage equality" here), a referendum would have opened the door to one of those horror shows of gobs of outside money from right-wing religious groups, just as it did in Cali. Vermont legislators, a very low-key lot who literally are your neighbor down the road, were so put off by what happened in the civil unions battle nine years ago and by the avalanche of cookie-cutter anti email from out of state this time (way, way outnumbering in-state email), they voted down the idea of a referendum. The irony is that a referendum would have brought in vast amounts of non-Vermont people and cash to influence the vote, whereas keeping it within the legislature only meant it stayed a Vermont-only decision.

Good news indeed!

Submitted by Blue Girl on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 10:51 AM PDT.

And yesterday, there was a little bit of progress in Missouri when Columbia adopted a city ordinance allowing for a domestic partnership registry. Although it is less than civil unions and a far cry from marriage, it does give rights to partners in that city, in a state that passed an amendment to the state constitution in 2004 that outlawed gay marriage. Clark at Show Me Progress has the details.

opened the door to one of

Submitted by Trippp on Tue Apr. 7, 2009 3:43 PM PDT.

opened the door to one of those horror shows of gobs of outside money from right-wing religious groups I figure that must be what is keeping Norm Coleman's bid for MN Senator alive, because the more rejected ballots he gets counted the farther behind he gets. And yet somebody just won't let the issue die. It is like Terry Schiavo in the North. Tripp

Go VT!

Submitted by Vince (not verified) on Wed Apr. 8, 2009 1:45 PM PDT.

Leave it to Vermont and Iowa to be the most progressive states in the nation, shame on us here in California for passing Prop 9. Whether you call it Gay Marriage or Civil Union, the basic premise is that every person should have equal rights. It’s good to see that some states are progressing, I made a list on my site of the states I think will legalize Gay Marriage first: http://www.toptentopten.com/topten/first+states+that+will+legalize+gay+m...