Posted on 09/01/2009 5:57:35 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
DUXBURY, Vt. -- Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage on Tuesday at midnight, but anticipated demand has been low.
Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan waited 17 years before finally tying the knot in a midnight ceremony at a lodge in Duxbury. The couple, who planned the ceremony for late Monday, were pronounced married long before the sun rose Tuesday, when a new law legalizing same-sex marriage took effect.
"I didn't think it was even going to be possible," Slimback said. "We've waited so long to do it, but there are many other people behind us."
Justice of the Peace Greg Trulson performed the ceremony at his Moose Meadow Lodge in Duxbury.
Slimback said he and Sullivan -- who are from Whitehall, N.Y. -- have long wanted to cement their relationship by marriage. Since they can't legally marry in New York, they chose to have their wedding in Vermont.
Couples tied the proverbial knot in 1,704 civil unions in a six-month period since July 1, 2000, when the law took effect. There were 405 civil unions in July alone. Carolyn Conrad and Kathleen Peterson, both of Brattleboro, were the first couple to have a civil union in Vermont.
Demand For Same-Sex Marriage In Vermont Low
Out-of-state residents accounted for 78 percent of the civil unions -- with most involving people from New York, Massachusetts and California, according to state vital records. Nearly 69 percent were between female partners.
The Vermont Senate passed the same-sex marriage law in mid-March, making the state's bill the fourth of its kind in the past six years. The house followed a couple of weeks later with some changes, after which, the Legislature sent a bill to the governor, where it met a veto, which the Legislature overrode on April 7.
"I can finally get married legally in the place I've chosen as my home state," said Sarah Mell, of Montpelier.
By early Tuesday morning, though, Vermonters planning weddings were met with protests from five members of the well-known Westboro Baptist Church, a group from Kansas that gathered in Montpelier to deliver a message.
"This nation has wholly given over to every kind of sin, and the bottom rung is homosexuality," said Jael Phelps, of the Westboro Baptist Church.
The five protesters were met by dozens of counter-protesters, some in costume.
"Take your hate out of our state!" one counter-protester said.
"How could anyone read these things and take them seriously? It is the funniest thing I've ever seen," said Katie Fedigan-Linton, a counter-protester.
"I thought I should make an appearance because they're walking all over my good name here, spreading lies and hate," another counter-protester said.
While they didn't welcome the message, some people did welcome the opportunity to mark the day.
"Had they not been coming here to protest, there might not have been as much activity in Montpelier to celebrate the fact that there's legal marriage for same-sex couples now," Mell said. "So, in a strange way, I think it brought us together as a community, and (it) gave us national attention that Vermont is moving forward."
Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream marked Tuesday by releasing a new take on an old flavor, "Chubby Hubby," changing the name to "Hubby Hubby" in support of marriage equality.
"It's something we want to be crystal clear about-- this issue," said Sean Greenwood, of Ben and Jerry's.
Thought that was about the Obamas on first reading...
I can believe that.
Maine is going to overturn the legislature. If CT could it would. The battle isn’t over. I’ll never give up this fight.
Maine’s Question 1 is getting the gay lobby really worried. It’s going to get nasty up here but it will get overturned.
Don't know what a queer knot looks like.....and don't want to know!
The fight isn't over yet here in the Gay State.As you may recall,it was our courts and not our legislature...or voters...that approved this.The pervert lobby is now intimidating legislators and others to keep the question off of the ballot because they,too,have seen the polls...homosexual "marriage" would lose soundly here if it ever made it onto the ballot.
Pleeeease!......No pictures!
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1194593
HubbyHubby icecream, some of the comments are hysterical/
All these judge-manufactured “victories” will make gay activists good and complacent. The fact that the majority of the population opposes same-sex “marriage” and considers homosexuality abnormal will come to bite the gaystapo in the ass someday...and not in the way they like it.
Its not an easy process but one state at a time they will be pushed back.
Vermont ( and the other states) have simply made a law that requires all their citizens to humor these folks.
Sorry my deluded friends. Maybe there, but in my home your not married and will not be treated as such.
...And in one month, they will be the 10,000th couple to get a gay divorce.
For Pete Sake! If we oppose this I guess we are homophobes ... there is no place in any historical documents from eons ago that support this. The debauchery of Sodom and Gomorrah lead to its ruin. I gotta wonder what’s in the water!
Then let it get nasty - the nastiness is always on the homo-perverts' side. Let the world see who they are without their "normal" masks on.
But what do you mean by overturned? Overturn the legislatures new homosexual law, or that the veto vote will be overturned by judges?
Right-they are *not* married!
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