Vermont Governor To Pull a Schwarzenegger with Veto Threat

by Michael Jones · 2009-03-25 13:24:00 UTC
Topics:

Gov Jim Douglas

Is this California or Vermont?

Vermont's Governor, Jim Douglas, finally announced today that if the Vermont House of Representatives passes a marriage equality bill next week (after which it will go to the governor's desk), he'll veto it because he believes that "marriage should remain between a man and a woman."

Sound familiar?  It should.  It's the same thing that happened in California with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he vetoed marriage equality legislation twice.  Schwarzenegger's vetoes effectively led to Proposition 8.

There's still hope, however, that the Vermont House of Representatives could override Gov. Douglas' veto.  They would need 99 votes out of 150 to override the veto, and it's something that they might just have.  As the Governor told the Burlington Free Press: "I'm sure that legislative leaders would not have advanced this bill if they didn't have the votes to override a veto. I will accept the outcome of their vote, either way."

In a perfect world, it would have been nice to see a State Senate and State House approve marriage equality legislation, and have a governor sign off on it.  But two out of three ain't bad, if it means equality wins out in the end.  Stay tuned.  And shame on Governor Douglas for becoming an impediment to equality.  If you'd like to sound off to the Governor, you can contact his office via this electronic form here.

After you've done so, click on over here and sign our pledge (initiated by reader Douglas Gibson Jr) to add your name to the list of folks upset with Gov. Douglas's decision.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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