And Vermont is due its share of kudos

[pecunium]

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage -- and the first to do so with a legislature's vote.

The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.

The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law. New York Times

It's wonderful. Overriding the veto. That's outstanding. They passed the law, and they meant it. The representatives of the people have spoken out in behalf of the people.

Separate is not equal. They paved the way once, and they are still busting trail.

I can only hope the Calif. Supremes are as true to the ideals of the Constitutions they have to use.

Comments

[aeditimi.livejournal.com]

It was a wonderful thing to be on-the-ground for, let me tell you. All but three votes were accounted for when it came to the override, but it actually didn't take much convincing. For the most part, the legislators agreed that, although they might not have supported the initial bill, the large majority of the elected representatives did, and that it was therefore the will of the people of VT. That was enough to sway three democrats to change their votes from no to yes, and that was all we needed. The real long battle has been happening for the past decade in every town and village in the state, as people gradually became more comfortable with civil unions and with their out friends and neighbors, so that I do believe that this legislative action is fairly representative of the will of the people of the state of Vermont. There was talk of a referendum, which, while I'm glad it didn't have to happen, I think would have passed.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

That, my friend, is the best news out of that.

Not just the legislature taking the effort to make the law reflect the legitimate rights of people. Not just the people being for it, but the actual representatives seeing the desires of their constituents, and making good law from it.