Vermont’s Same-Sex Couples Move Toward Recognition
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MONTPELIER, Vt. — Same-sex couples in Vermont moved closer to gaining legal recognition Friday as a committee of the state Legislature approved a bill allowing civil unions.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted, 6 to 5, in favor of the precedent-setting measure that had won 9-to-1 approval in the chamber’s Judiciary Committee earlier this week.
The proposal is likely to come up for a vote in the full House in about two weeks. Many political observers said they could not predict the outcome.
One recent poll found 20% of Vermonters in favor of granting full marriage rights to same-sex couples, 10% supporting creation of legally binding domestic partnerships for same-sex couples and 29% favoring passage of an amendment to the state constitution limiting marriage to male-female couples.
Under the civil union proposal, the state would grant same-sex couples all the rights and benefits it provides to heterosexual married couples. The bill allows gay and lesbian partners to obtain civil-union licenses from town clerks.
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