Vermont Elections Hinge On Civil Unions Issue
Oct. 20 -- Two years ago, Marion Milne, a Vermont state legislator with two terms under her wing, was re-elected handily with the support of both Republicans and Democrats. Last year, the Vermont House of Representatives voted her “Legislator of the Year.”
Last month, Milne was defeated in a Republican primary — by a landslide.
The difference? Milne, a 65-year-old grandmother of seven, supported the passage this spring of the state’s controversial new law allowing gay couples to “marry” in civil unions.
“It was the toughest thing I have gone through in my political career,” Milne says. “There were a lot of people on all sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, men and women, searching deep inside themselves and trying to do the right thing. A lot of us felt good about the process, but we were all getting a very hard time at home.”
Milne may not be the only political casualty this fall.
Since the state passed the civil union law in April, giving same-sex couples essentially the same rights and benefits as married couples, Vermont has been at the center of a political — and increasingly emotional — debate over gay rights.
Incumbents Ousted Over Issue
In state primary elections last month, five Republican incumbents, including Milne, were ousted largely because of their support for civil unions. But voters also nominated Democratic state Auditor Edward Flanagan, the first openly gay candidate in the country to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He faces longtime Republican incumbent Sen. Jim Jeffords, who also supports civil unions.
As states around the country continue to debate the rights of same-sex couples to marry, Vermont will be watched closely to see how the civil union issue survives a voter backlash. Even at the state’s highest office, Democratic Gov. Howard Dean, who signed the law and has defended it, will face a challenger over the issue in Ruth Dwyer, an opponent of civil unions.
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