Go, Vermont!

Woot! Same-sex marriage measure sails through Vermont Senate:

The Vermont Senate on Monday evening overwhelmingly passed a bill legalizing gay marriage, making the state the first in the nation to take legislative rather than judicial steps toward granting marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The state Senate voted 26-4 in favor of the measure introduced by Democratic state Sen. John Campbell. The bill now goes to the state House, where Speaker Shap Smith, also a Democrat, predicted a majority would vote in favor of the "marriage equality" act. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to begin debating the bill Tuesday. A second vote in the state Senate also is expected Tuesday.

...Vermont became the first state in the nation to enact civil unions for gay couples nearly 10 years ago, but advocates say the following decade has demonstrated that civil unions and marriage, as separate institutions, are unequal and relegate same-sex couples to second-class status.

Vermont's Republican Governor, Jim Douglas, has not said whether he will sign or veto the measure, provided it lands on his desk as expected. It may, however, not matter, as there might be "enough votes in the Democrat-controlled House to override a gubernatorial veto."

Stay tuned...