Archive for the ‘Vermont’ Category

One of the unsung heroes of the marriage equality movement in our country is Vermonter Steve Kimbell. For years he worked with lawyer Beth Robinson and her group Freedom to Marry to make Vermont the first state in the union to pass civil unions in 2000. Earlier this year, thanks to Steve and Beth, working closely with legislative leaders Peter Shumlin and Shap Smith, Vermont became the first state to enact marriage equality legislatively.

I’ve known Beth Robinson for over ten years, getting to know her best after her success in bringing the issue of equal rights for same-sex couples before the Vermont Supreme Court.  Her success led to the Vermont legislature creating the then unheard of term “civil unions” in July, 2000.
When I lived in Vermont I worked [...]

Gay and Lesbian couples in Vermont will be able to legally marry in the Green Mountain state effective today.
It was only nine years ago that the term civil unions was created in a Vermont legislative committee room by Vermont House members seeking a way to give gay and lesbian couples equal marriage rights but not [...]

Vermont Governor Jim Douglas announced today that he will not run for re-election next year.  Good riddance.
Governor Douglas made history earlier this year when he became the first Vermont Governor in over 17 years to have his veto overridden by the legislature.
The bill?  The marriage equality bill. In April of this year the Vermont legislature, [...]

According to Vermont Public Radio, Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, supports federal recognition of marriages between same-sex couples.  His home state of Vermont passed a marriage equality bill earlier this year.

Sen. Leahy: “Well I think now that you have states that are voting for and having same-sex marriages – Vermont has, [...]

By Chris Edelson, HRC’s state legislative director:
Today’s vote by the Maine state Senate in favor of marriage equality is another exciting step forward in what has become a rising wave of positive marriage votes by state legislative bodies in Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire (and perhaps in more states to come in the months ahead). Our own [...]

New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote a doozy of an article on Saturday that lampoons (or, harpoons, perhaps…) the anti-gay right wing for their desperate, grasping attacks against marriage equality.  I love that he points to that crazy National Organization for Marriage “Gathering Storm” ad that we helped turn into what Rich calls an [...]

Good afternoon,
This week has been quite a whirlwind.
Within four days, Vermont joined Iowa in enacting marriage equality, this time by overriding the governor’s veto. And in the midst of the groundbreaking marriage news, the White House appointed HRC Religion and Faith Director Harry Knox to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
But just [...]

HRC was everywhere yesterday talking about the momentum behind marriage equality: HRC President Joe Solmonese was featured in a USA Today article on marriage in Vermont and took on Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”  Likewise, HRC Legal Director Lara Schwartz made appearances on WAMU’s “The Diane Rehm Show” and CNN’s “The Situation Room” [...]

Yesterday HRC National Field Director Marty Rouse had little time to celebrate Vermont’s historic marriage victory.  He drove directly from the Vermont State House in Monpelier to the New Hampshire state House in Concord, where he met with senate leaders to discuss the future of the marriage and gender identity bills there that recently passed [...]