For the second time in just under one week’s time a State here in the US has legalized same-sex marriage!!! Vermont has just become the 4th State in the US (5th if you count California) to legalize same-sex marriage after the State legislature has voted to overturn the veto by Governor Jim Douglas who publicly opposed the legislature’s ratification of the law. After both houses of the Vermont State legislature voted to allow same-sex marriage in their State last week (an upgrade from the civil unions they already had in place for same-sex couples), Governor Douglas decided to veto that law (his belief is that civil unions are “good enough” for same-sex couples). In the wake of his decision to veto, the legislature has *just* voted to overturn his decision … making same-sex marriage legal in their State!!!!!

Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage — and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote. The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override. The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law. It’s now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. Their approval of gay marriage came from the courts.

This is such amazing news!!! Not only are the winds of change blowing across our great nation but it seems to have turned into a bit of a tidal wave of change. Unlike other States which legalized same-sex marriage in the courts, Vermont has legalized same-sex marriage in the legislature … which is a hugely significant difference. As you may recall, just last week we learned that Iowa became the 4th State to legalize same-sex marriage here in the US and now Vermont joins the ranks of the States who have decided that marriage equality should be afforded to all. To clarify, altho Vermont is the 5th State to legalize same-sex marriage (California was among those States) there are only 4 States out of 50 that currently allow the practice legally. I must admit, my fear was that the Vermont State legislature would not be able to come up with the votes needed to overturn the governor’s veto … I’m so ecstatic that I was wrong! As you may painfully recall, California’s legalization of same-sex marriage was overturned in last November’s election. While we suffered a major setback here in California, this latest ratification in Vermont to allow same-sex couples the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples pushes our country closer to truly allowing freedom and justice for its citizens. On behalf of the rest of the country that still waits for marriage equality to be enacted for all, I salute and send my heartfelt thanks to the people of Vermont for their efforts today. They join the ranks of the other pioneering States (including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa) who recognize that all couples in the US of A deserve access to marriage equality! What another wonderful, wonderful day!!!

[Source, thanks Amanda]