Although Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas carried through on his promise to veto legislation that legalized same-sex marriage, both houses voted this morning to override the veto.
In the Vermont Senate 23 out of 28 members voted to override. In the Vermont House, 100 out of 149 voted to override.
Vermont, nine years after adopting the first-in-the-nation civil union law, has become the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. It is also the the very first state to institute same-sex marriage legislatively.
Most of the opposing arguments to same-sex marriage — outside of religious ones, of course — have been that the ability for same-sex couples to marry has been granted upon judicial review. Already in Iowa those who oppose the decision are calling for the state’s constitution to be rewritten — a lengthy process in Iowa that would take more than two years.
If there is opposition in Vermont, it will be interesting to see what arguments are made since much of what has been said in Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts and even California will not apply.
