VERMONT TOOK ANOTHER BIG STEP

Following Massachusetts, New Jersey, Iowa, and Connecticut. Washington, DC has declared that all same-sex marriages, performed in states where they are legal, will be honored in DC. The Vermont Legislature on Tuesday, 4/7/09, overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, mustering one more vote than needed to preserve the measure. It also makes Vermont the first state to allow same-sex marriage through the legislature rather than the courts.

Speaking to a 'slippery-sloper', he told me that 21 year old guys would be getting married and getting marital rights. He went on to graphically and obscenely describe what he thought they would be doing and was annoyed when I asked him if their behavior would be any worse in marriage than it might be to him if they remained single. He went on to spew all the ridiculous arguments that have been floated for some time, with which the rest of us (I'm straight) have lived with resounding in our ears forever. I asked if such had happened in Massachusetts since marriage was legal for more than 5 years now. He said it had not been legalized though he has lived here a lifetime. I then gave in to my first urge, which was to stop the discussion then and there. However, this person was wanting a fight.

He said all the cliches about marriage being between a man and a woman, obviously not realizing that was so by religion's edicts and does not go back to Adam and Eve...who he may think were a married couple though he professes to be an Atheist. There was no possibility of making myself clear that I was trying to be polite in explaining I didn't wish to fight about this issue as we both were in differing positions on the subject. I was informed that he was only trying to educate me but I was unwilling to listen to the truth and facts. The conversation was ended at this point and I was left to ponder just which of us was too stupid to learn.

Many of the opponents argue on a religious basis but our land has permitted marriages to be legalized in a secular service for documentary reasons for a veryh long time. Marriages have to be recorded somewhere.

I applaud the four states and the District of Columbia for their belief that all mankind is created equal, at least in the sense they should enjoy equal human rights in the United States. Maybe one day all states will allow this equality to become law.