D.C Will Recognize Your Marriage

By: http://www.advocate.com

The Washington, D.C., city council voted unanimously on Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in the growing number of states where marriage equality is now legal.
Tuesday's 12-0 vote on the contentious issue is expected to bring the council in direct conflict with the U.S. Congress, which approves of the city's laws under Home Rule.
"It's high time we send a clear, unequivocal message to those persons of the same sex and married in another jurisdiction that their marriage is valid in D.C.," openly gay council member Jim Graham said, according to The Washington Post. He added, "I hope this city recognizes this is a human rights struggle."
Openly gay council member David Catania said that it's only a matter of time before the District of Columbia grants marriage equality to all of its residents. "It's no secret that I have been working on legislation that would take us further," he said. "This is the march toward human rights and equality. This is not the march toward special rights. This is the equal march and that march is coming here."

Same-Sex Marriage Legalized in Vermont

By: http://www.advocate.com/

Following tense and emotional proceedings on the legislative floor, the Vermont house voted 100-49 at 11 a.m. on Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas's veto of marriage-equality legislation. After an earlier morning vote by the senate, 23-5, to override the veto, the house vote makes Vermont the first state to recognize marriage equality through the legislative process without first being ordered to do so by the court.
The outcome of the highly anticipated house vote remained uncertain until it occurred. In the end, the 100 votes generated was the minimum needed to meet the two-thirds majority requirement for the veto override.
Marriage-equality advocates hailed the milestone in Vermont, which was the first state to create civil unions for same-sex couples in 2000.
“This historic vote in the Vermont legislature reminds us of the incredible progress being made toward equality," said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese in a statement. "Less than five years ago, lesbian and gay couples began marrying in Massachusetts. Now, with the Iowa court decision last Friday and today’s vote in Vermont, there will be four states recognizing the right to marry for loving, committed lesbian and gay couples," he said.
House members who spoke on the floor before the vote cited the "stress and anger" that surrounded the same-sex marriage debate in Vermont, with one noting the "disrespectful comments on both sides." Another legislator, who voted not to override the veto, called it "the most emotional and passionate issue I’ve ever been involved in."
Gay and lesbian couples may begin to marry in Vermont on September 1.