Legalizing Gay Marriage

THIS PROJECT has left me with many debts, which I gratefully acknowledge. Judy Hilts and Laura Gillen word-processed the manuscript in all its incarnations. Ted Sweet and Pam Gatos provided invaluable research assistance. Pam Gatos and Brook Hopkins gave me permission to quote the entirety of their memo on the events leading up to the Baker v. State litigation. Ted Sweet gave me permission to reproduce his memo on his interview with the recipients of the first civil union in Vermont. Greg Johnson, Doug Samuels, and Jennifer Hammer read and commented helpfully on at least one incarnation of this manuscript. Nancy Levit, Christine Wiseman, and Gary Francione provided excellent reviews of the manuscript. All remaining errors of fact, law, nuance, or taste are solely my own. The views expressed in this book are my own. They do not reflect the policies or opinions of my employer, Vermont Law School, or any other member of the law school community.

I am deeply grateful to Emily LaPointe, my friend and former research assistant, for believing in this project and for encouraging me to write about subjects beyond my own areas of academic expertise.

I am grateful to Vermont Law School Dean Kinvin Wroth and Associate Dean Bruce Duthu for a generous summer research stipend to support this book project, to Temple University Press and Editor-in-Chief Janet Francendese, to Susan Yates and Alysia Cooley at Publication Services, Inc., and to Peirce Graphic Services, LLC for their superb work in making this book a reality.

Vermont's same-sex civil unions law has generated a number of outstanding books. I found three such books especially indispensable: Equality Practice: Civil Unions and the Future of Gay Rights by William Eskridge; Marriage and Same-Sex Unions: A Debate, edited by Lynn Wardle, Mark Strasser, William Duncan, and David Coolidge; and On Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and the Rule of Law, by Mark Strasser.

This book had its genesis in an article I wrote for a symposium issue of the Vermont Law Review published in Fall 2000. I learned a great deal

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