Crossposted on Daily Kos on Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 10:17:43 AM EDT
After the Vermont Senate voted overwhelmingly (26-4) for a bill that would allow same-sex couples in Vermont to obtain the same state marriage license that is afforded to opposite-sex couples – and in advance of last night’s tremendous support (95-52) for this bill in the Vermont House – the Governor of Vermont, Jim Douglas, announced he would veto the bill.
Douglas says he believes that only members of his own group should be allowed to enter this public institution.
“I say segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”
–Gov. George Wallace
Vermont was the first state, and indeed the first sovereign nation, to outlaw slavery. Vermont would be the first state to grant same-sex couples marriage licenses without being required to by a court ruling. Apparently uninspired by this egalitarian tradition, Jim Douglas is taking his cues from another place and time in American history.
That if he wants to be thought of as an old-fashioned Vermont Republican, he should stop acting like an an old-fashioned Alabama Democrat.
Web: http://governor.vermont.gov/contact.html
Inside Vermont: 800-649-6825
Outside Vermont: 802-828-3333
That is a great line and really gets to the heart of Dixiecrat! Vt repub tradition is so removed from this post southern strategy regional Republican party. Douglas is done– “hoisted on his own petard” has never been so apt a phrase. Lets hope the Legislature treat him like the lame duck he is.
Great diary — reminds me of Douglas’ college boy “I’m not sure there is segregation” line in the now classic “Nixon’s Man on Campus” article from a generation ago.
Anyone else notice that at least one edition of the “hate fax” spammed in the last week features a prominent picture of a mixed-race gay male couple?
Coincidence? I, for one, doubt it.
God, let’s hope that Douglas is a lame duck now. Please. We need to progress, not regress, and that is all that Douglas is.