Will VT Honor Canadian Gay Marriages?

      “Vermont, which has a civil union system that is legally the same as marriage, seems sure to recognize Canadian marriages.”
      Or so says a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union, which last month issued a guide for American same-sex couples who are considering going to Ontario or British Columbia to get married.
      Courts in both provinces have declared that the restriction of marriage to one man and one woman violates the rights and offends the dignity of same-sex couples. Other Canadian provincial courts have issued similar rulings, but held their implementation in abeyance to allow the Canadian federal government time to address the issue in Parliament.
      Vermont Deputy Secretary of State Bill Dalton did not dispute the assertion when asked about it, but said that essentially, we won’t know the answer “until something goes wrong, when a same-sex couple who married in Canada decides they need to part company” and seeks a dissolution of their marriage in Vermont.
      But, he reiterated, “The issue has not yet been joined. Further legislative or judicial action is needed,” to clarify the issue.
      When a state agrees to recognize contracts and licenses from the other 49 states, including marriages, it’s called “full faith and credit.” When a country agrees to recognize other countries’ licenses and contracts, the legal concept is called “comity.” The U.S. generally has comity with Canada.
      But the U.S. also has a “Defense of Marriage Act,” which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages and relieves individual states of any duty to honor the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution in regard to same-sex marriages.
      Dalton noted that so far as he knows, neither a civil union nor an Ontario same-sex marriage has been successfully used to get a green card (work and residence permit) from the Immigration and Naturalization Service for a non-American spouse.
      “Nothing under Vermont law currently prohibits recognition of Canadian marriages – or any marriage from another country,” said Rep. Bill Lippert, one of the key architects of the civil union bill in the 2000 legislature. “Why should this be any different?”
      Lippert was cautious about fueling any drive toward a Vermont DOMA (state Senator Julius Canns, R-Caledonia, has already filed a bill to amend the Vermont constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman). But in his musing aloud, Lippert wondered whether Vermonters already in a civil union would be allowed to marry in Canada and then bring that marriage certificate home.
      A query to the Vermont Department of Taxes about whether Vermont same-sex couples married in Canada would be able to file as married filing jointly first elicited a laugh, then a long period on hold while an answer was sought. A Vermont Tax Examiner who asked not to be named said that such couples could file as civil union joint or individual.
      Filing under the civil union joint designation requires double computation of taxes – once for each partner as single for federal taxes, then as “married” in order to calculate the Vermont income tax liability. Same-sex couples who file under the civil union joint designation are required to file copies of both sets of federal tax paperwork. Sex-discordant married couples are not subject to any additional paperwork.
      Asked why Vermont same-sex couples married in Canada couldn’t just file as “married,” the examiner said, “Well, it’s because of our laws. They have to file as civil union because it’s the only way to identify that they’re a same-sex couple, because their names might not be the same or some guys, I guess, have girls’ names.” When the extra paperwork and tax expense were pointed out, the examiner said, “The rates for civil union joint are the same as for married joint.”
      Attorney Susan Murray, who with Beth Robinson represented the Baker v. State couples in the case that won civil union legislation, believes that Vermont will follow Canada’s lead “within a decade.”
      Murray continued, “There is nothing in Vermont law that declares that a same-sex marriage lawfully entered into outside Vermont is not to be recognized in Vermont. If a same-sex couple gets married in Vermont and then comes to Vermont, I would hope that the State of Vermont would respect the validity of that marriage, just like it would respect the validity of a Canadian marriage between a man and a woman. That is the right thing to do, but at this point we simply don't know how the State would respond.”
      Stay tuned.