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March 23, 2009

Vermont Senate OKs gay marriage; some fear political repercussions

By JOHN CURRAN

MONTPELIER, Vt. — He's a freshman Democrat from a conservative district, forced to take a position he worries could cost him his seat.

She's a former Republican lawmaker who knows too well his dilemma: Nine years ago, she voted "yea" to civil unions, and it cost her her job.

With votes on gay marriage under way at the Statehouse, state Sen. Matthew Choate and former Rep. Marion Milne offer perspectives that illustrate the dilemma confronting 180 Vermont legislators.

Vote "yes" and you're a hero to the gay and lesbian lobby, a pariah to those who believe government shouldn't tamper with a social institution. Vote "no" and you're seen as a bigot by some, a champion by others.

A same-sex marriage bill moved a step closer to becoming law Monday, with the state Senate passing it in a 26-4 vote. The House takes up the issue today and likely will act on it by April 3, Speaker Shap Smith said. Gov. Jim Douglas, who opposes the bill, hasn't said whether he will veto it if the Legislature passes it.

While the battle's not as pitched as it was in 2000, the specter of having to face voters is on the minds of lawmakers.

"The consequences are there, politically," said Choate, D-Caledonia. "But I'm not choosing votes based on what's politically correct. My vote is going to go to what I think is right on the issue when it's presented to me."

Milne knows all about the consequences.

In 2000, she was a six-year incumbent representing a conservative Orange County district.

Ordered by the Vermont Supreme Court to come up with a marriage equality measure, the Legislature took up the issue of same-sex marriage, becoming reluctant pioneers in the heated debate that ended with the adoption of a first-in-the-nation law that stopped short of giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.

"When the Supreme Court sent down the verdict, my first thought was 'Why are they sending this to the Legislature?'" she remembered Monday. "I didn't know how I felt about it.

"I spent many long hours on a snowy night at the hearing and I listened to everything that came before us. It was somewhere in there that I realize this was a civil right, and I supported it," she said.

In the next election, Milne — who'd carried the Democratic and Republican lines in her last election and was the leading vote-getter — was turned out, one of 17 lawmakers to vote in favor and later lose at the polls.

Now a 74-year-old travel agent, she doesn't regret the vote, and says that time has shown it was the right one. Other states followed Vermont's lead, enacting either civil unions or same-sex marriage. "The sky hasn't fallen in or anything," she said. "I did what I thought was right. It is a quandary, and I think everybody has to do what they think is right."

For Choate, a 37-year-old nurse manager from St. Johnsbury in his first year at the Statehouse, the issue has been a hot potato. He's received more than 300 telephone calls and e-mails from constituents on it.

"That's a lot for our district," he said. "We used to joke on the campaign trail that if five people called you, you had a mandate."

The e-mail messages and calls are running about two-thirds in favor of gay marriage, one-third against, Choate said.

Before voting yes on the bill Monday, he considered the religious element of the issue but found conflicting views. Last week, four Episcopal priests testified before lawmakers, and they were split on the issue. "Whose church do you listen to? Which one's right?" he said.

He read the Vermont Constitution in hopes of getting guidance there. That suggested he view the issue through a civil rights lens and left him feeling that he had to vote "yes" for gay marriage.

"You hear such passion on both sides. I've come to see there's some percentage of people who are for it or opposed, and they're polarized. There's a fairly good-sized group who either don't care or don't care enough to call or think that we have more important things to be dealing with," Choate said.

Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont, says a ballot-box backlash is unlikely this time around, given that other states have acted since 2000 and that many Vermonters see gay marriage as the next logical step.

"(In 2000), the body count was among Republicans, not among Democrats, who are fairly sympathetic," Nelson said. "It was Republicans who took the brunt of this. This time, I can't see it. Maybe one or two, but the body count will be minimal, if at all."

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