Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage With Veto Override

Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage _ and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote.

The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.

The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law.

It’s now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. Their approval of gay marriage came from the courts.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) _ As expected, the Vermont Senate has overridden the governor’s veto of a bill that would allow same-sex marriage.

The House planned to take up the issue later Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether there are enough votes to override the veto by Gov. Jim Douglas.

If there are, Vermont would become the fourth state to legalize marriages of gay and lesbian couples.

The others are Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa.

This article by AP appears in the Washington Post.  For related articles and more information click the link below.

How do you feel about gay marriage?  Please leave your thoughts below.

Vermont legalizes gay marriage with veto override – washingtonpost.com.

Posted by Man In The Middle on Apr 7th, 2009 and filed under Family, Family News, Latest News, Love & Marriage Advice, News, Politics, The States. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

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