MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — 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.Read it here.
I am not particularly a fan of same-sex marriage (I think it's a pathetic, desperate, doomed-to-fail ploy calculated to promote full "acceptance", rather than "tolerance", of homosexuals in the broader culture; at the best it provides same-sex couples with a "feel good" experience) but I see no good reason to oppose it, provided it is achieved through democratic processes. What has always bothered me about the debate is the willingness of proponents to resort to the courts and attempt to impose an outcome through judicial fiat. That, not the marriage itself, is the real threat to American life and culture. So, I view with indifference Vermont's legalization of same-sex marriage, but strongly condemn the actions of judicial tyrants in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa.
