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Loading ...Vt House tries to override gay marriage veto
04.07.2009 9:07am EDT
(Montpelier, Vermont) Vermont lawmakers Tuesday will attempt to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry. The Republican governor, as expected, nixed the bill Monday night when it arrived on his desk.
In a prepared statement, the governor attempted to portray himself as a moderate, putting the blame on the federal defense of marriage law.“This legislation does not address the inequalities espoused by proponents,” the statement said. “Regardless of whether the term marriage is applied, federal benefits will still be denied to same-sex couples in Vermont.”
Douglas said that the legislation does not provide any additional benefits not already available under Vermont’s civil unions law.
The veto sends the bill back to the Democratically controlled legislature, where it needs a two-thirds vote to override it.
The Senate will easily override the veto. It approved the marriage bill by an overwhelming majority. But the House is a different matter. It passed the bill last week 94-52. It would need 100 votes to overturn the veto. Both sides on the issue have predicted it could come down to just two or three votes – possibly less.
Vermont was the first state in the country to legalize civil unions in 2000. Since then, LGBT groups have criticized the law for creating a “two-tiered” system – marriage for opposite-sex couples and civil unions for gays.
If the House overrides the veto, the bill would become law.
It would amend the existing civil unions law to allow marriage of same-sex partners beginning Sept. 1. Civil unions, which confer some rights similar to marriage, would still be recognized but no longer granted after Sept. 1.
The bill also would guarantee that churches would not be obligated to marry same-sex couples.
I am gay, but my marriage is not.
Could we please stop calling it “gay marriage”? I did not ask my husband to gay marry me? Nor did I have a “gay wedding”…
Heterosexuals do not have a straight wedding or straight marriage. Interracial couples do not have interracial unions.
Equality is treating everyone the same.
Could we PLEASE start talking about “marriage for same sex couples”? Saying gay marriage or same-sex marriage sounds like it is something different than marriage.
I know this sounds like being petty, but it really hurts me when people suggest tht my marriage is somehow different than my parents’ marriage or my friends’ marriages. I am equal, and my marriage is equal to theirs, too.
The AP just wrote that the vote went our way!!!
The Vermont House has voted, 100-49 to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill that would allow same-sex marriage.
Vermont will become the fourth state to legalize marriages of gay and lesbian couples. The others are Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa.
The Vermont Senate voted earlier this morning to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of the same-sex marriage legislation.
The vote passed, 23-5.