Lawmakers unveil gay marriage bill
Hundreds turn out to show support in Montpelier
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Euan Bear of Bakersfield holds a sign during a gathering of gay marriage supporters in Montpelier on Friday. Vermont lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow gay marriage in the state that created civil unions for same-sex couples. TOBY TALBOT / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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By DANIEL BARLOW VERMONT PRESS BUREAU - Published: February 7, 2009
MONTPELIER – Surrounded by friends and colleagues at the Statehouse on Friday morning, Euan Bear proudly unfurled her banner.
It read: "If we're equal, would you trade your marriage for my civil union?"
"It's an amazing turnout today," said Bear, the former editor of the monthly Out in the Mountains newspaper. "It shows Vermont is ready for this."
Hundreds of gay rights supporters filled the hallways of Montpelier's Statehouse on Friday as lawmakers unveiled a bill that would legalize same sex marriage in Vermont. The bill, which has broad support in the Vermont House and Senate, comes eight years after the state passed its first-in-the-nation civil unions law.
As activists gathered petition signatures and lobbied their lawmakers to support the bill, there was nary a sight of opposition that day at the Statehouse – a dramatic change from the rancorous debate over civil unions in that same building less than a decade ago.
"This is another step forward in a long journey that started eight years ago," Rep. Mark Larson, D-Burlington, one of the bill's main supporters, to a room crammed full of hundreds of cheering supporters.
Larson said a similar gay marriage bill unveiled two years ago had 35 co-sponsors. This year's bill has nearly 60 in the Vermont House. He predicted tri-partisan support for the effort, noting that Vermonters realized that legalizing civil unions did not hurt the state.
He also praised the work of a legislative commission formed nearly two years ago by Democrats charged with studying the issue and gathering input from Vermonters. The commission found strong support among residents for same-sex marriage.
"We've still got a lot of work to do and we'll need your help," Larson told supporters.
Sen. John Campbell, D-Windsor, an attorney and supporter of the bill, reflected on a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case argued by Robert Kennedy in the early 1960s after an interracial couple was jailed for being married.
He said just as society accepted marriage between mixed-race couples, it will accept marriage between same-sex couples.
"We didn't get it two years ago," Campbell said, referring to the previous gay marriage bill he sponsored. "But we'll get it done this time."
Late Friday morning, about 100 activists crowded into Gov. James Douglas' ceremonial office at the Statehouse for a private, 30-minute meeting with the Republican executive. Douglas does not support same sex marriage, but it is not clear what he would do if the bill makes it to his desk.
Organizers of the rally were mum on what was discussed during that meeting, but several people who attended said it was a polite and cordial discussion that centered mostly on gay and lesbian Vermonters telling their personal stories.
Douglas has said he believes Vermont's civil union law achieved equality for same-sex couples in the state. That bill was signed into law by the previous governor, Democrat Howard Dean.
Douglas spokesman Stephen Wark said Friday that the governor believes lawmakers should focus on the economy this year. Gay marriage supporters in the House said Friday that lawmakers can do that and push a civil rights agenda.
Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, one of the bill's supporters, said many conservative colleagues have told him privately they were reluctant to sign on as co-sponsors, but would gladly support the bill when it came up on the House floor.
"Some of them don't want to offend their constituents by signing onto the bill," Zuckerman said. "But they recognize this is a civil rights issue and that gay and lesbian Vermonters are their constituents, too."
Gay and lesbian Vermonters were joined by their straight supporters at the Statehouse rally Friday. Michel Kabay of Plainfield said he and his wife, Deborah Black, have marched in Burlington's annual gay pride demonstration every year since moving to Vermont from Canada in 1998.
He said everyone should have the right to marry the person they love.
"I understand that some people have religious objections to same-sex marriage, and I have no problem with that," Kabay said. "But I will not tolerate persecution of a person because of their gender identity."
Included in the same-sex marriage bill in the Vermont Legislature is a provision that allows religious leaders to refuse to perform a same-sex ceremony if it is in conflict with their beliefs.
A couple whose lawsuit led to the creation of civil unions say the bill is a step forward toward equality. Both recently retired, the two women are drawing on social security.
"If something happens to one or the other of us, we cannot, like a heterosexual couple, like a married couple, we cannot draw on each other," said Lois Farnum of Burlington.
And outside of Vermont, people don't necessarily understand what a civil union is, said her partner, Holly Puterbaugh, 62.
"It would be so much easier to say we're married, and they get it," she said. Gay marriage opponent Stephen Cable, of Rutland, spokesman for the Vermont Marriage Advisory Council, said the legislation would not provide any more benefits to same-sex couples on the state level.
It would also create confusion over parenting laws, he said.
Cable's group sent a letter to legislators last week, saying it would "permanently weaken the connection between marriage, parenting and family structure and likely increase out-of-wedlock births and single parenting."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
daniel.barlow@rutland herald.com.
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