MONTPELIER, VT, Dec 21 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vermont’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that “the state is constitutionally required to extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law.” While pro-family groups were thankful that the court did not order homosexual marriage, the ruling cannot be appealed to the US Supreme Court since it bases itself on Vermont’s state constitution. The courts threw the decision on whether to grant same-sex marriages back to the state legislature.
“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. Whatever system is chosen, however, must conform with the constitutional imperative to afford all Vermonters, the common benefit, protection and security of the law,” the decision reads. The American Family Association noted that the lawsuit was filed by three homosexual couples who had applied for marriage licenses in different towns in Vermont, but were denied the licenses under state law. The state supreme court heard the case on appeal from a lower court ruling that Vermont’s marriage statutes did not permit the issuance of a license to same-sex couples.
The Family Research Council reacted to the ruling urging “states that have not already done so to pass laws now protecting marriage.”
With files from the National Post.