Vermont Senate Passes Gay Marriage Bill

March 24, 2009 7:00 a.m. EST

Montpelier, VT (AHN) - The Vermont Senate voted late Monday to pass a bill allowing same-sex marriages, bringing Vermont closer to becoming the third state to legalize gay marriages and the first state to do so through its state legislature.

By a 26-4 vote, state Senators showed overwhelming support for the Democrat-backed measure, dubbed the "freedom to marry bill." The state Senate still has to hold another procedural vote Tuesday on the legislation, but Monday's vote has assured passage of the bill, which has caused intense public debate.

The state House of Representatives still has to pass the bill before it can be sent to Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas to be signed into law. The governor, a Republican, has indicated opposition to the bill.

The legislation, if signed, will replace the state's law on civil unions, and bring the number of states to legalize gay marriages to three, following Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Vermont became the first state to allow same-sex civil unions in 2000. Gay marriages were briefly legal last year in California, where an initiative banning such marriages called Proposition 8 is now under consideration before the state Supreme Court.

State Speaker Shap Smith and state Senate President Peter Shumlin, both Democrats, had announced earlier this month that a measure on gay marriages would be one of at least seven priority bills in the remainder of the 2009 session.

But Republicans had criticized that such a "divisive" bill should not be tackled during a time of recession, and that the appropriate way to find consensus is through a statewide referendum. A petition is underway at LetVermontVote.org to ask state lawmakers for a public referendum.

The Vermont Marriage Advisory Council has also expressed deep concerns about the risk of losing " the natural, inherent bonding right of a child to his/her own biological mother and father." It has said that "same-sex marriage directly increases the number of children who will be motherless or fatherless."