Fricken' Amazing: This is only the 7th successful override of a veto in VT History: Thank you

[cali]

thank you, thank you, to all the wonderful legislators in VT. Thank you for reflecting the will of the people, and marriage equality IS the will of the people here.

145 vetoes in 150+ years and this is only the 7th override. It's damn hard to override a veto.

I just can't believe they did it. Kudos to Beth Robinson and the Freedom to Marry Taskforce. Kudos to all Vermonters, gay and straight who fought for this day for well over a decade.

We did it!

[Occam Bandage]

1. That is shocking. Thank God for the courage of Vermont's legislature, and for

the wise voting habits of Vermonters.

[depakid]

2. More facts and analysis please

Who turned on the Gov and why?

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. The Vermont Legislature passed a law to extend marriage to all couples, regardless of gender

This was in response to the Vermont Supreme Court telling them that domestic partnerships did not live up to the constitutional standard of equality. The governor vetoed the law yesterday. Today -- only one day latter -- the Legislature overrode the governor's veto, 100-49 in the House and 23-5 in the Senate.


Added: The Wikipedia has a concise summary here, as part of the larger article on Civil Unions.

[cali]

7. no, no. there was no involvement by the Supremes here

not since 1999 when the Baker decision came down. In that decision, the VT Supremes said that the legislature had to provide the identical benefits of marriage to same sex couples, either via marriage itself or a parallel institution. The legislature chose to create civil unions, and Governor Dean signed them into law in 2000.

This year, the legislature brought up marriage equality independent from any court decision.

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. After posting this, I realized I might have been wrong

I asked for clarification on this very issue in the GLBT forum.

I remember something about Vermont activists working to bring the matter back to the courts, on the grounds that separation is inherently unequal and that the lack of equivalent institutions in other states meant that the original court order had not been fulfilled. I wasn't sure if a case had been filed or if there was, perhaps, some other threat of judicial intervention. Thanks for the correction :hi:

[cali]

12. no problem.

I just posted a more extensive explanation in GLBT.

[cali]

9. good question. Undoubtedly, Governor Doesless pissed off some

of the few dems (10) in the House who didn't vote for the legislation by his promise to veto a bill with such overwhelming support. In the Senate, the override was a slam dunk. In the House, 6 repubs stood with the dems. And the legislators know that Vermonters support marriage equality by a substantial margin. That doesn't mean there may not be blowback for some legislators who voted for it. We're going to have to work our butts off here in my town to make sure that our wonderful rep, Lucy LeRiche, doesn't lose her seat. I live in the Northeast Kindom, and it's definitely the most backward part of the state.

[depakid]

13. Thanks- I didn't think the bill passed with a veto proof majority in the House

Man, Vermont sure does have a LOT of legislators for its size & population.

[cali]

14. heh. we ain't got nothing like the number of legislators in NH

We have 150 in our House, that's about 1 legislator for every 2,100 citizens. In NH, they have 400 members of the House. It's the largest state legislature.

[Tim01]

3. It's about freakin time.

[spanone]

4. what's really amazing is that vermont has a puke governor

[ohheckyeah]

6. Will we hear cries of

"activist legislatures"?

Big kudos to the Vermont legislature!

[steelmania75]

8. This is great, but we need to get other states to legalize gay marriage as well

States like Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Illnois, Wisconsin, Washington(state), Oregon, Hawaii, and California(again).

[CanonRay]

10. Thank You Vermont

A bastion of sanity in this insane country. And I'm straight, for the record.

[Libertyfirst]

15. Doesn't matter if I'm straight or gay, Great Vermont made marriage o.k.