The American Spectator

The Spectacle Blog

Vermont's legislature approves same-sex marriage by overriding Republican Gov. Jim Douglas's veto. Vermont already had de facto same-sex marriage in the form of civil unions, but this move applies the word "marriage" to those unions and was conducted democratically. Judges played a role even here -- the civil unions regime was judicially imposed on a state without any mechanism for the people to vote directly; it is highly unlikely that this would have come to pass had that not been the case -- but this is the first time this decision has been made by an elected legislature in the United States.