Word: vermont
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While the initial assumption among many Vermont residents was that domestic partnership would be the legislative response to the judicial mandate, there are, in fact, several options between the extremes of outright legalization of gay marriage and an attempt to amend the constitution. While some extreme conservatives would do anything to avoid condoning what they view as a morally reprehensible action, we anticipate and encourage the extension of equal benefits to any and all couples that are committed to one another...
Because the Vermont Supreme Court based the decision on the state constitution, it is purely an issue of Vermont law, not subject to review by the federal courts. Some opponents of the legislation have proposed amending the state constitution to prevent same-sex marriage, but such an amendment could not come to a vote until...
However, what Vermont does will have significance beyond its borders. Because the U.S. Constitution requires that states give "full faith and credit" to the judicial proceedings, including marriages, of other states, same-sex couples could marry in Vermont and expect that their status should be recognized in other states. Some states have attempted to pass laws declaring that they will not recognize such marriages, but such evasions of Constitutional responsibility should not stand up in the courts...
...Vermont Supreme Court was right to see through a lower court ruling that held onto a concept of marriage linked only to procreation and child rearing. Many married couples are childless, and many same-sex couples have adopted children; there is no reason to grant benefits to one group and deny them to the other...
There is no doubt that some Americans have deeply-held beliefs opposing the extension of legal benefits to same-sex couples. But as the Vermont court ruled, these beliefs should not be allowed to obscure society's duty to extend to same-sex couples the "common benefits and protections" that they deserve under the law. This distinction between the civil benefits of marriage and its religious or moral standing is the most compelling argument in favor of domestic partnership laws in response to conservatives' fears traditional marriage will be undercut...