The state's top two Democrats in the Legislature announced Wednesday that they have formed a new commission to study the possibility of making it legal for gays and lesbians to get married.
The announcement outside of Burlington's City Hall by House Speaker Gaye Symington of Jericho and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin comes seven years after Vermont made history by approving civil unions for same-sex couples.
Symington and Shumlin said the commission, chaired by former state representative Tom Little, would study state law and gather input from Vermonters before making a recommendation on the issue in April 2008.
The two Democratic leaders both said they felt it was time for the state to have the gay marriage discussion and believed that it would not be as divisive as the legislative battle over civil unions in Montpelier in 2000.
"It's time to ask if it is in Vermont's best interest to retain separate legal status for gay couples," Symington said. At his weekly press conference Wednesday, Gov. James Douglas said he is satisfied that the state's civil union legislation, which was signed into law by his predecessor, former Gov. Howard Dean, supplies gay and lesbian couples with the same rights allowed to heterosexual couples.
The governor added that he is worried the gay marriage debate would be as divisive as the civil union one seven years ago."
I don't think it is in the state's best interest to have this divisive topic revisited," Douglas said.
No comments:
Post a Comment