MONTPELIER – Nearly a decade after three same-sex couples sued the state of Vermont for the right to marry, and six years after the state handed down the civil union compromise, equal rights advocates have placed a marriage proposal on the table. Last month, Burlington Rep. Mark Larson introduced H742, which if passed, will remove gender discrimination from the state's marriage law. Advocates do not expect the amendment, named "An Act to Protect Religious Freedom and Eliminate Discrimination in Marriage," to go far during the remainder of the legislative session.
       "We're not actively pushing for hearings on the marriage bill," said Beth Robinson, chair of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force (VFMTF). "We're just starting the process." The bill, which would adjust Vermont's marriage law to be gender neutral, also makes it clear that no clergy would be required to sanction any same-sex marriage.
       "We really are saying churches are free to do as they choose to do," said Robinson, who was one of two attorneys who filed Baker v. State in 1998, the case that eventually led to the civil union law of 2000. Robinson said the current proposal is not a change in position, but rather an attempt to be clearer up front that clergy would not be required to sanction any marriage she or he disapproves of.
       VFMTF recently commissioned a poll of 401 Vermonters on the issue of marriage equality, Robinson said. In that poll, conducted by ORC Macro which has offices in Burlington, a majority of the 401 people polled either favored equality in marriage, or leaned that way. "I was not surprised, but I was heartened" by the results, Robinson said. She said the poll confirmed what she has felt in recent years that "people are with us" and ensures that it's "safer politically" now to put this issue before the legislature. The results contrast with a November 2004 poll showing 40 percent of Vermonters supporting marriage.
        The Vermont initiative takes place among a mix of measures in other states both for marriage equality and against it. In Maryland recently, a judge struck down a law denying equal marriage to same-sex couples. The state of Virginia will be considering an anti-marriage amendment this year, as will several other states. Last year, the California legislature passed an equal marriage bill, but that was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Currently only the state of Massachusetts allows same-sex couples to legally marry.
      On the national scene, a newly organized coalition of groups called Marriage Equality Matters will work to support the right to marry. During Freedom to Marry Week in February, the five groups announced they had joined forces to end discrimination in marriage, and in particular to bring the discussion to a higher level within communities of color. Lambda Legal, National Black Justice Coalition, Asian Equality, National Latina/o Coalition for Justice, and Freedom to Marry joined hands to form the coalition.
       It was a timely move, given that a majority of states within the U.S. have already written marriage discrimination into their laws, or constitutions, or both. In addition to states' efforts to discriminate, Republican members of the U.S. Senate have announced their bid for a Constitutional amendment banning equal marriage rights for the third year in a row.
      Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania re-introduced the measure in January of this year, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee promised supporters, including the American Family Association, that he will bring the matter to the floor for a vote on June 5th.
       The discriminatory amendment won't go anywhere, however, if Sen. Patrick Leahy has his way. Leahy's office said last month that he will continue to oppose such an amendment, as he has in the past. Sen. James Jeffords echoed Leahy's stand against such an amendment.
        The Human Rights Campaign, which worked to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004, continues the fight against the initiative, now called the Marriage Protection Amendment. In its fight to defeat the amendment, the HRC noted that its passage would not only deny same-sex partners the right to marry, but would also "seriously endanger civil unions and domestic partnerships."

Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force: To volunteer or for more information about marriage equality in Vermont go to www.vtfreetomarry.org, email Robyn Maguire at field_director@vtfreetomarry.org or call 802.388.2633.