Candleblog

There is an important subtle distinction to make about today’s historic override vote in the Vermont statehouse. Media are reporting that Vermont is the 4th state to legalize gay marriage, which is true (if you discount the few months that California enjoyed this equal protection under the law), but there’s a really noteworthy difference with the Vermont law that’s getting missed by a lot of folks. First, a little history…

Back in 2000, Vermont became the first state to ever recognize a legally binding union between same-sex couples. The state legislature was told they had to do this by the Vermont Supreme Court because to not do so violated Vermont’s constitution, which required equal protection under the law for all Vermonters. The legislature then decided to embrace “civil unions,” which would be distinct from marriage semantically (and as it turns out, practically as well, in some important instances), but would otherwise provide the same basic benefits to same-sex couples as marriage, thus satisfying the court’s concerns. Yay, history was made!

Then Massachusetts one-uped Vermont and made actual according-to-Hoyle marriage legal for same-sex couples. Connecticut and California followed suit last year (we all know what happened in CA) and just last week, Iowa of all places joined the list of states that truly provide equal treatment under the law for their citizens as far as marriage is concerned.

But here’s the thing. In each of the above instances — MA, CT, CA & IA — the various state supreme courts insisted that the legislatures recognize gay marriage because, as with Vermont in 2000, to not do so violated the states’ constitutions. The state governments were essentially complying with court orders, just as Vermont had done when it legalized civil unions in 2000.

What’s different about today’s ruling in Montpelier is that it marks the first time in history that a state legislature has just decided to recognize same-sex marriage without being told it had to do so by the judicial branch of government. They did it just because it was the right thing to do. The legislature proposed a bill, it got taken up and debated, voted on, vetoed and overridden.

Today is a great day for the democratic process. I’ll say it again: yay!