In a ruling called the first of its kind in the United States, Vermont's Supreme Court has ruled homosexual couples must receive the same benefits and protections granted married couples of the opposite sex. But it's up to the state legislature will determine whether that comes through formal marriage or domestic partnerships.
But the Vermont high court ruling stays as it is and cannot be appealed to the Supreme Court - because the Vermont justices based the ruling on the state's constitution, the Associated Press says.
``We hold," the Vermont Supreme Court justices said, "that the state is constitutionally required to extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law.'' The court also held that, whether the legislature chooses marriage or domestic partnerships, it has to "conform with the constitutional imperative to afford all Vermonters the common benefit, protection, and security of the law."
This ruling comes not long after Hawaii's Supreme Court closed the prospect of gay marriage in that state. The Hawaiian high court said the matter was settled by a 1998 state constitution amendment against gay marriage. That left Vermont as the only other state whose high court was mulling the issue.
Both supporters and opponents awaited the ruling, the AP says. It stems from a 1997 suit filed by three couples after they were denied marriage licenses by their town clerks. The AP says the clerks acted on advice of the state attorney general, who had in turn acted on a 1975 opinion by a predecessor who called same-sex marriages unconstitutional.
The couples argued their inability meant they couldn't get over 300 benefits at the state level and over a thousand at the federal level, the AP says, including medical benefits, spousal support, homestead protections, and others.
Vermont Governor Howard Dean has refused to state any position on same-sex marriage, the AP continues, saying he was awaiting the court ruling. Both Lt. Gov. Douglas Racine and Vermont House of Representatives Speaker Michael Obuchowski say they favor same-sex marriage.
When Hawaii's Supreme Court ruled denying same-sex marriage was discrimination, it triggered a rash of pre-emptive legislating with at least 30 states banning same-sex marriage and Hawaii's own state constitution amendment blocking it. Congress also passed the Defense of Marriage Act, denying federal recognition of gay marriage. Much of it stemmed from fears that couples would go to Hawaii to marry and force the issue in the 49 other states.
Vermont was already a leader in legislation which prohibited discrimination against gays in employment, housing, and public accommodations, the AP says, as well as laws punishing hate crimes against homosexuals.
