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Vermont legislature considers same-sex marriage bill

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Vermont State Legislature on Monday began a series of week-long hearings on a bill that would allow same-sex marriage in the state. The bill, "An Act to Protect Religious Freedom and Promote Equality in Civil Marriage," sponsored by Vermont State Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin and State Senators John Campbell and Claire Ayer, changes the definition of marriage to "the legally recognized union of two people." Supporters and those opposed to the bill have come to the State House in Montpelier to to voice their opinions. The Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to conduct a hearing on S.0115 on Wednesday. Vermont became the first state to offer civil unions to same-sex couples when then-Governor Howard Dean signed H.B.847 into law in April 2000. If S.0115 were to become law in Vermont, that state would be the fourth to legalize same-sex marriage. In October, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the Connecticut Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry. In May, the California Supreme Court held that California marriage statutes that limited marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the California constitution. However, in November, Proposition 8 was passed, amending the California constitution to define marriage as between a man and putting the status of same-sex marriages in California in doubt. In 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that barring an individual from marriage based on the spouse's gender violated the Massachusetts Constitution.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).