SSM BILL INTRODUCED IN VERMONT: From the Rutland Herald

Partners in a civil union would be able to convert their union to a marriage by filling out a simple application under the provisions of a bill introduced in the Vermont House on Friday.

And while the measure has little chance of becoming law, its key sponsor said same-sex partnerships should be afforded the same level of legal recognition as marriage.

"There are many instances of separate but not equal in the past," said Rep. David Zuckerman, a Burlington Progressive who has said Vermont's first-in-the-nation civil unions law doesn't go far enough.

"And while I know this issue is going nowhere in either direction," he said, "I've never been one to settle for partial accomplishment."

In addition to allowing civil union partners the option of marriage, the bill would permit same-sex marriage outright, ending the need for future civil unions.

The bill would also require the state to recognize same-sex marriages and civil unions conducted in other states and countries.

The bill, Zuckerman said, is meant to contrast with a proposed amendment to the Vermont Constitution that was introduced earlier this year in the Senate.

That amendment, sponsored chiefly by Sen. Mark Shepard, R-Bennington, would ban same-sex marriage, affirm the "critical role of the married family as a fundamental building block of a stable society." It would also "help ensure that the democratic process is not overrun by judicial activism."

The amendment--which, like Zuckerman's bill, has little chance of advancing--says defining marriage as an institution between men and women is necessary for children. It says children need to be raised in "a married family with both a mother's and a father's care, reinforcing for men the importance of fulfilling their responsibilities to children and to women and by offering both male and female role models."

Civil unions were mandated by the Vermont Supreme Court in 1999; they were signed into law by former Gov. Howard Dean in 2000. Since the law's passage, more than 5,800 same-sex couples have entered into the agreements.

Vermont's measure was the first in the country to give any marriage benefits to gay and lesbian partnerships. But in the last year a Canadian court ruled that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry. And the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered that state's legislature to come up with same-sex marriage provisions within the next couple of months.

more
posted by Eve at 9:49 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home