Vermont court allows benefits for gay couples

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Creating what could be a springboard for the legalization of gay marriage, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled yesterday that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.

The high court stopped short of giving homosexuals the right to marry, leaving it instead to the Legislature to decide whether to legalize same-sex marriages or create some kind of "domestic partnership" status to ensure gay couples' rights.

Gay organizations hailed the decision as the most far-reaching ruling of its kind in the United States and said it represents their best chance of winning the right to marriage for the first time anywhere in this country.

"This is a glorious day," said Evan Wolfson of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. "Vermont's highest court has ordered an end to unequal treatment of lesbian and gay families."

Until recently, Hawaii had been gay couples' best hope. Hawaii's Supreme Court started the debate nationally when it ruled in 1993 that restrictions against gay marriage violated the state constitution. But last year, Hawaii approved a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

"We hold that the state is constitutionally required to extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law," Vermont's high court said. "Whether this ultimately takes the form of inclusion within the marriage laws themselves or a parallel 'domestic partnership' system or some equivalent statutory alternative rests with the Legislature."

The court said the benefits that gay couples should get include access to a spouse's medical, life and disability insurance, hospital visitation and other medical decision-making privileges, spousal support, certain rights of inheritance and homestead protections.

Both gay rights advocates and opponents of homosexual marriage said the Vermont ruling was the strongest in support of gay rights by a state appeals court in the United States.

"It really represents a slap in the face for marriage between a man and a woman," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, which opposes gay marriage.

Mary Bonauto, a lawyer for the three gay couples who sued the state in 1997 for right to be given marriage licenses, called the decision "a legal and cultural milestone."

"We celebrated our 27th anniversary together in October. We look forward to the time when we can finally make it official," said Holly Puterbaugh and Lois Farnham, one of the couples.

The three couples at the center of the case -- two lesbian couples and a male couple -- sued after being denied marriage licenses by their town clerks. The couples argued that their inability to get married denied them more than 300 benefits at the state level and more than 1,000 at the federal level.

Hawaii's 1993 ruling set off pre-emptive legislation around the nation. Lawmakers feared that gay couples would fly to Hawaii to get married and that the 49 other states would then have to recognize those marriages.

At least 30 states banned gay marriages, and Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition of homosexual marriage and allowed states to ignore same-sex unions licensed elsewhere.

Hawaii eventually drew up a constitutional amendment against gay marriage, and voters approved it 2-to-1 last year.

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