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 Majority In Vt. Support Changing Civil Unions
To Marriage
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: March 26, 2008 - 2:00 pm ET
(Montpelier, Vermont) As a state commission
prepares its report on whether to amend Vermont's civil union law to allow for
same-sex marriage a new poll finds that the majority of people in the state believe gay and
lesbian couples should have the right to marry.
The survey was taken of people attending town
meetings across the state. It found that 54-percent said they support allowing gay
couples to marry while 37-percent were opposed.
Vermont holds town hall meetings annually to
conduct local business. Each March people going into the meetings are polled by
state Sen. William Doyle, a Johnson State College political science professor,
on issues affecting Vermonters.
Support this year for same-sex marriage showed an
increase of eight-percent over 2007.
The commission studying same-sex marriage will
present its report to the legislature next month. Members have been close-lipped
on what they will recommend.
The commission was set up last year to look into
Vermont's civil unions law to see if it is providing equality for gay and
lesbian couples and to determine if the law should be amended to provide for
same-sex marriage.
It is chaired by former state Rep. Tom Little
(D). When he was a member of the legislature Little was chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, when it passed the law legalizing civil unions in 2000.
At hearings throughout the state commissioners
were told that while the state's civil union law - the first of its kind in the
nation - was a step forward same-sex couples still are not equal.
Although the committee will present its report to
the legislature in April nothing is expected to be done about it until after the
election. That would mean that if the committee recommends gay marriage
legislation there is no likelihood of a bill before 2009.
©365Gay.com 2008
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