BENNINGTON — Legislative leaders said Thursday that they will move quickly to pass gay marriage legislation, beginning hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 16 — the day the Legislature reconvenes following the Town Meeting break.

The announcement came at a Statehouse press conference hosted by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, and House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morristown, as they outlined an aggressive agenda for the remainder of the legislative session.

Shumlin, who served as Senate president in 2000, when Vermont became the first state to pass civil union legislation, said Thursday he was proud of the state at the time for taking such a momentous step. But his “pride has given way to uneasiness,” he said, as other states have since bypassed Vermont and have allowed gay marriage.

“Vermont is no longer alone, and we’re no longer leading. Here in Vermont, people’s fears in connection with the civil union law have proven unfounded,” he said. “Nobody was harmed, some families enjoy a little more security, and our state is a better place for having taken that step.”

 See Hearings to start March 16 on gay marriage

Bennington Banner -

 

MONTPELIER — State legislative leaders announced this afternoon they intend to take up a gay marriage bill when the Legislature reconvenes in two weeks.
Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin and Speaker of the House Shap Smith said at a join news conference at the Statehouse that the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a week of testimony and a public hearing on the matter. They predicted a bill would emerge from committee by week’s end.

The Legislature is on a two-week hiatus and will resume work March 17.

Shumlin and Smith also outlined a number of other priorities for the remainder of the session, including economic development measures. See Leaders vow to pass gay marriage bill BurlingtonFreePress.com

 

TRENTON — Legislative leaders reiterated their long-term support for allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Jersey but didn’t promise immediate action on a call today by a state review commission to scrap civil unions in favor of gay marriage.  The Civil Union Review Commission said in a 79-page report issued today that state law should be amended to allow gay marriage — and quickly, saying “any delay in marriage equality will harm all the people of New Jersey.” 

The commission said current New Jersey law, drafted in response to a state Supreme Court order, allowing gay couples to enter civil unions “encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children” and that some employers and hospitals don’t afford civil union couples the same rights as married ones. 

“Even if, given enough time, civil unions are understood to provide rights and responsibilities equivalent to those provided in marriage, they send a message to the public: same-sex couples are not equal to opposite-sex married couples in the eyes of the law, that they are ‘not good enough’ to warrant true equality,” says the report.   See No timeline to permit gay marriage in NJ
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