In The Days

• Source: LA Times
• News Date: 4/7/09
• Author: Jessica Garrison

Sen. John Campbell, left, congratulates gay marriage advocate Susan Murray after the state legislature voted to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto.

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Please read Leviticus 18:22-30“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.” —Leviticus 18:22-30 to see the results of this lifestyle on a progressively decaying society as it turns from it’s creator.

“And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.”
—Ecclesiastes 12:5-8

The Vermont Legislature voted today to permit same-sex couples to marry–making it the first state in the union to legalize gay marriage through a vote of lawmakers rather than a court action.

The vote comes just four days after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled to permit gay marriage, and brings to four the number of states that allow gay marriage.

“The emotion that is going around this building right now — how good people feel — it’s palpable,” said Vermont state Senate Majority Leader John Campbell, who led his colleagues this morning in overriding Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto. “It’s not often that you get in your career to be able to fight for someone’s civil rights.”

Opponents of gay marriage, meanwhile, condemned the decision.

“Today is a truly sad day for Vermont and this nation,” said Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, in a statement.

Brown added that, in response to the actions in Vermont and Iowa, his organization plans to launch a new, national ad campaign that “highlights how same-sex marriage undermines the core civil rights of those who believe in the simple truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.” The ads will begin Wednesday, he said.

The action by one of the nation’s smallest states — Vermont’s population is around 600,000 — was hailed by gay rights activists in California who are fighting for same-sex marriage here. Following a ruling last May by the California Supreme Court, gay couples had the right to marry in California for about five months before Proposition 8 amended the state Constitution to disallow such unions.

“Today’s vote should send another strong message to the California Supreme Court that discrimination has no place in our laws and should not be enshrined in the California Constitution,” said Marc Solomon, the newly hired director of marriage for the gay rights group Equality California.

Gay marriages can be performed in Vermont starting in September.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in four states: Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.