Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Vermont says yes to marriage equality

Yes. Yes. Yes. By a vote of 100 to 49. The house votes to approve a bill to override Governor Jim Douglas' veto. The Vermont Senate voted earlier this morning 23-5.

The California legislature passed marriage euality bills twice - in 2005 and 2007 - but did not hae the necessary votes to override Governor Schwarzenegger's vetoes. Now Vermont has become the first state to take the legislative process all the way to marriage equality.

This is an extremely significant step. The anti-marriage equality defenses are rapidly falling. No it isn't just west and east coast liberals - it's Iowa, too. No it isn't just "activist judges" - it's state legislatures, too, elected by vote of the people.

This is very exciting news.

2 comments:

Bill Baar said...

This is a much better path to follow than letting judges decide what's marriage.

Robin Edgar said...

This victory for your cause is certainly a significant one, and one that is truly democratic. You have good reason to celebrate this particular victory Ricky. Time will tell what happens in response to the decision of "activist" Supreme Court judges in Iowa but this fully democratic decision of the Vermont state legislature may well provide some of the momentum that you need to move forward in other states to say nothing of the national level.