Vermont approves gay marriage! Washington, DC moves to recognize out-of-state marriages!
”The emotion that is going around this building right now — how good people feel — it’s palpable. It’s not often that you get in your career to be able to fight for someone’s civil rights.”
Vermont state Senate Majority Leader John Campbell, who led his colleagues this morning in overriding Gov. Jim Douglas‘ veto of a gay marriage bill. The House very narrowly voted by a 2/3 margin to go along with the Senate. (LA Times)
It’s been a very long battle. It’s been almost 20 years to get to this point,” Dostis said. “I think finally, most people in Vermont understand that we’re a couple like any other couple. We’re as good and as bad as any other group of people. And now I think we have a chance to prove ourselves here on forward that we’re good members of our community.”
Vermont Rep. Robert Dostis, who says after 25 years of being together with his longtime partner, Chuck Kleteck, it’s finally time to get married. (Burlington Free Press)
”I prepared myself for this outcome and predicted it…. What really disappoints me is that we have spent some time on an issue during which another thousand Vermonters have lost their jobs. We need to turn out attention to balancing a budget without raising taxes, growing the economy, putting more people to work.”
Vermont’s Republican Governor Jim Douglas sucking on his sour grapes — still trying to link the economy to gay marriage. Yesterday he also said that a same-sex marriage bill needed to be vetoed because Federal laws would not recognize state marriages anyway. (Burlington Free Press)
It’s no secret that I have been working on legislation that would take us further. This is the march toward human rights and equality. This is not the march toward special rights. This is the equality march and that march is coming here.
Washington, DC Councilman David Catania on the unanimous vote to approve letting the District recognize marriages that have been performed in other states. It is reported that Mayor Adrian Fenty will also allow legal recognition of same-sex marriages. There has been strong support for gay marriage in DC for several years, but some fear that the Bush-era Congress would override the will of the District has cause hesitation and a lot of patience to be in order until now. (Washington Post)
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