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by Barbara Dozetos
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Just after midnight on July 1, Carolyn Conrad and Kathleen Peterson became the first couple to become legal spouses under Vermont's civil union law. photo: Bari Shamas |
BRATTLEBORO _ T. Hunter Wilson helped to write a piece of American history on July first.
“By the authority vested in me by the state of Vermont, I now declare you joined in civil union,” Wilson, a justice of the peace, declared shortly after midnight.
And with that, Carolyn Conrad, 29, and Kathleen “K.P.” Peterson, 41, became the first same-sex couple in America to become legal spouses in the eyes of the law.
Later that day, the sun rose and the sky didn’t fall. The launch of civil unions, besides granting gay and lesbian couples all the rights and benefits of marriage, generated nothing more than a lot of media buzz and more loud complaints from opponents.
That’s pretty much how it’s gone throughout the first month of the civil unions law. The first weekend, which coincided with the long 4th of July holiday, only a dozen or so town clerks were even open to issue civil unions licenses.
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Holly Puterbaugh (rt. front) and Lois Farnham, two of the plaintiffs in Baker v Vermont, got their civil union license on July 1, before a crowd of reporters and photographers at the South Burlington Town Clerk's office. Their ceremony took place a few hours later. photo: Max Stroud |
Among the first to get their license were Lois Farnham and Holly Puterbaugh, who were plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the Legislature’s enactment of the law.
“I think it’s about time after 27 1/2 years,” Farnham told a large media gaggle in South Burlington City Hall, just minutes after she and Puterbaugh got their license.
“That’s long enough. It’s nice after all this time to say Holly is my spouse,” Farnham said.
No protesters or opponents have interrupted any of the ceremonies to date, but the opposition remains strong and organized. About a dozen people formed a prayer circle in Brattleboro across the street from the fountain where Peterson and Conrad held their ceremony.
And about 150 people turned out for a feisty protest on the Statehouse lawn on July 1 as the first civil unions ceremonies were being held across the state.
The theme of the opponents continues to be a call for the majority of Vermonters to rise up and take back control of their state government from the legislators and governor who granted gay and lesbian couples full rights. “It is we who are on the offensive,” said Neal Laybourne, pastor of Barre Free Evangelical Church. “Let’s channel our energy toward taking back Vermont.”
The goal of the protesters is to make a huge difference when Vermonters cast their ballots and they already are targeting House Republicans who voted for the bill. Many of those lawmakers face primary races from fellow Republicans.
“You can make a difference. You need to take a stand. You need to be active,” Stephen Cable, an insurance salesman from Rutland who has established a group called Who Would Have Thought Inc., told the protesters at the Statehouse.
Supporters of full equality for same-sex couples are quietly building their strength, too, though. The Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force is planning a full summer at the various fairs around the state, bearing witness to the public of the strong families that gay and lesbian couples have been forming for years.
A political action committee established by the task force also has been working to raise money so it can be active in this fall’s political campaigns.
But most importantly, couples both from Vermont and from around the country have been taking advantage of the new legal rights and benefits that are being afforded to them by the civil unions law.
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Annett Cappy, Brattleboro Town Clerk, issued a civil union license to Thomas Land and Alexander Westerhoff of Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA at 12:30am July 1. photo: Bari Shamas |
Of the 115 certified civil unions reported to the Vermont Department of Health’s vital record’s department as of press time, 78 were for non-Vermonters. Those couples will not automatically have any benefits when they return home.
Some of those couples said the symbolism of having a state government, even if it is not their own, recognize their relationships was immensely important to them.
“We believe that this should be a right anywhere in this country. It’s my right to pursue joy,” Karen Anders of Columbus, Ohio, said. Anders and partner Dorrie Mills stood in the lobby of South Burlington City Hall while Farnham and Puterbaugh got their license, waiting to fill out the paperwork for their own civil union.
After Farnham and Puterbaugh got their licenses and dealt with the media, Anders and Mills presented them with a bouquet of flowers and thanks.
“They have worked hard,” Anders said.
“We’re tremendously grateful to them,” Mills said.
Precise totals for civil union licenses obtained and certified in July, will not be available until mid-August. The licenses must be certified within 60 days after they are issued by a town clerk. Once certified, they must be filed with the town clerk within 10 days. The clerk then has until the tenth day of the following calendar month to record the union with the vital records department.