Go Vermont!

Wow! The Vermont legislature overrode the governor's veto and same-sex marriage is law in Vermont. This is the first state legislature to legalize gay marriage. The other states that have passed equality in marriage did so through the court system.

Here is the story:

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Gay-rights groups say that momentum from back-to-back victories on same-sex marriage in Vermont and Iowa could spill into other states, particularly since at least nine other legislatures are considering measures this year to allow marriage between gay couples.

The Vermont Legislature on Tuesday overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, mustering one more vote than needed to preserve the measure.

The step makes Vermont the first state to allow same-sex marriage through legislative action instead of a court ruling, and comes less than a week after the Iowa Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages in that state.

I heard this tonight from Amy Goodman who was live and in person at ETSU. She will be broadcasting tomorrow's show from WETS on the ETSU campus in Johnson City, Tennessee. She is going to be talking about this incredible turn of events.

According to Goodman, legislators who had voted against the legislation, voted in favor of overturning the veto because the governor nosed in their business, telling the legislature that he would veto it while they were voting.

Also, robocalls from right wing groups saturated Vermont. Vermonters didn't take kindly to outsiders telling them what to do. All of that played into the Vermont legislature being the first legislature in the nation to approve marriage equality.

Amy Goodman, by the way, was inspiring. She spoke for 90 minutes and could have spoken for another 90 minutes as far as I was concerned. She is smart, tough, and inspirational. Check out Democracy Now! on the web or on an NPR station near you.

If your NPR affiliate doesn't have Democracy Now! go to the station manager and tell them to put it on! WETS is the only affiliate in a red state that carries Democracy Now! and it is the result of two people going to the station manager and getting it on the air.