Civil Union
On December 20, 1999 the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in Baker v. Vermont that same-sex couples are "entitled under Chapter I, Article 7, of the Vermont Constitution to the same benefits and protections afforded by Vermont law to married opposite-sex couples". The Court did not rule on whether Vermont was required to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but suggested that the legislature could enact a parallel licensing scheme affording the same substantial benefits as marriage to same-sex couples. After very contentious debate, the legislature followed the Court's suggestion and passed H.B. 847, which Governor Howard Dean signed on April 26, 2000. The debate on civil unions was acrimonious and deeply polarizing, touching every corner of the state and spurring a prominent popular backlash under the slogan Take Back Vermont.
When the civil unions law went into effect on July 1, 2000, Vermont became the third U.S. state after Hawaii and California to offer legal status to same-sex couples, and the first to offer a civil union status encompassing the same legal rights and responsibilities of marriage.
Read more about this topic: Same-sex Marriage In Vermont
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