Civil Unions

Court Battles and Decisions

In 1999, three same-sex couples sued the state of Vermont for the right to marry. In a landmark decision called Baker v. State, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled unanimously that denying the statutory benefits and protections of marriage to same-sex couples violated the Common Benefits Clause of the Vermont Constitution. In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Amestoy, the court held that the state was “constitutionally required to extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law.” However, the court left it to the Vermont legislature to remedy the violation by either incorporating same-sex couples into existing marriage laws, or by creating a statutory alternative that provided same-sex couples the full “benefit, protection, and security of the law.”

The court's decision proved controversial and the Vermont legislature engaged in extensive committee hearings and public debate to find a legally acceptable solution. Once it became clear that the majority of legislators preferred the creation of an alternative statutory arrangement, rather than the integration of same-sex couples into civil marriage, much of the discussion focused on what such an arrangement should be called. Members of the Vermont legislature considered several terms including domestic partnership, civil accord, and civil domestic partnership; however, members of the gay and lesbian community were dissatisfied with the term domestic partnership as were many of the legislators. Legal scholar William Eskridge notes that the term civil union first became part of the Vermont legislative record when Representative Cathy Voyer urged [Page 292]that the provision of equal benefits and responsibilities ought to be made in a “civil union package.” The term civil union gained the favor of Representative Thomas Little, the chair of Vermont's House Judiciary Committee, and the term was eventually adopted by the full legislature when it passed Act 91-An Act Relating to Civil Unions.

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