Posted by Dale Carpenter:
Gay marriage, by legislature, in Vermont:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_04_05-2009_04_11.shtml#1239123478
Nine years after it became the first state to approve civil unions,
Vermont becomes the first state to enact gay marriage legislatively.
With just one vote to spare, the Vermont state legislature [1]has
overridden the governor's veto of a gay marriage bill. The state house
voted 100-49 and the state senate voted 23-5. You can find a roll call
for the override vote in the state house [2]here.
The text of the house bill is [3]here. It reads, in part:
Sec. 3. 15 V.S.A. § 8 is amended to read:
§ 8. MARRIAGE DEFINITION
Marriage is the legally recognized union of [DEL: one man and one
woman :DEL] two people. Gender-specific terms relating to the
marital relationship or familial relationships, including without
limitation �spouse,� �family,� �marriage,� �immediate family,�
�dependent,� �next of kin,� �bride,� �groom,� �husband,� �wife,�
�widow,� and �widower,� shall be construed to be gender-neutral for
all purposes throughout the law, whether in the context of statute,
administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other
source of civil law.
Italics indicate added languague.
Getting two-thirds of each house of the state legislature to approve
gay marriage is a much more impressive feat, in my view, than getting
even a unanimous vote from a state supreme court, as occurred in Iowa
just four days ago. Congratulations to the [4]Vermont Freedom to Marry
Task Force and everyone in the state who spent the lest nine years
organizing, raising money, and lobbying legislators first to defend
the state's civil unions and then to push for full marriage.
The marriages start on September 1.
References
1. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53648V20090407
2. http://www.vtfreetomarry.org/override.html
3. http://www.leg.state.vt.us/DOCS/2010/BILLS/INTRO/H-178.PDF
4. http://www.vtfreetomarry.org/index.html
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