On April 6, the Vermont legislature voted 100-49 to override Governor Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill that granted LGBT couples the right to marry. Vermont is now the fourth state in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage.
The vote came on the same day as the City Council of the District of Columbia voted unanimously to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, and just days after the Iowa Supreme Court voted unanimously to allow same-sex marriage in that state.
The movement for LGBT equality is gaining
momentum: In the last week, Iowa and
Vermont legalized same-sex marriage
LGBT people and their allies welcomed the vote in Vermont as another step forward in the struggle for equal marriage rights.
In Vermont, there is no current legal avenue for a referendum to overturn the vote. The law is set to go into effect in September.
In a cynical ploy meant to pit LGBT and heterosexual workers against each other, Governor Douglas said, “What really disappoints me is that we have spent some time on an issue during which another thousand Vermonters have lost their jobs.”
LGBT people and all workers are natural allies. There exists no limited pool of rights for workers and oppressed people.
Winning rights for LGBT people does not in any way detract from the struggle for social justice for all working people. There is no natural separation between the struggle for full employment and equal rights. The struggle for LGBT equality is not responsible for layoffs and foreclosures. The government could easily eliminate unemployment by funding jobs instead of bailing out the banks.
The vote in Vermont represents real progress in the struggle for marriage equality and the general struggle for LGBT liberation. Recent victories and setbacks in the struggle for equality highlight the need to continue the struggle.
Under capitalism, the rights of workers, especially the rights of people of color, women, immigrants, and LGBT people, are under constant attack and must be constantly defended. While very real economic and social gains can be won under capitalist rule as a product of struggle, those rights face constant threats under a system that profits off inequality.
Currently, there are growing opportunities to achieve lasting victories in the struggle for LGBT liberation. Marriage rights should be extended to every person in the United States. All anti-LGBT laws should be struck down, especially the Defense of Marriage Act that outlaws federal recognition of same-sex marriage rights.
