Vermont House Oks gay marriage

By: www.365gay.com

(Montpelier, Vermont) The Vermont House on Thursday passed marriage equality legislation but not by enough of a margin to override a threatened veto by Gov. Jim Douglas (R) .

The bill passed the House on a 95-52 preliminary vote. A final vote will be held on Friday. It would need 100 votes to overturn a veto.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of the legislation earlier.

The two versions still need to be harmonized before going to Douglas’ desk.

The House bill would guarantee that churches would not be obligated to marry same-sex couples. Another preserves the words husband and wife on marriage licenses while affirming same-sex couples can marry, and a third allows private church-based organizations to refuse facilities and membership to gay couples.

House leaders now must try to sway the five votes to ensure it is veto-proof.

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.

Under the Senate version, the civil unions law would 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.

Hundreds of supporters and opponents of the legislation turned out at the State House for Thursday night’s debate.

Earlier in the day, about 200 opponents staged a rally and then went into the building, jamming a hallway outside a news conference where Douglas was reiterating his opposition to the bill.

Supporters cast the debate as a civil rights issue, saying a civil unions law enacted by the state in 2000 has fallen short of the equality it promised same-sex couples. Its appeal has declined, too: In 2001, the state granted 1,876 civil unions, compared with only 262 last year.

An impact study released earlier this month suggests there is a link between the economy and gay marriage.

The study, by the Williams Institute at UCLA, found that approval of gay marriage in Vermont could generate $31 million in new spending and $3.3 million in state taxes over three years.

Last November, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based LGBT rights group that brought the successful legal challenges leading to same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut launched the “Six by Twelve” campaign to legalize gay marriage throughout all six New England states by 2012