Dec. 20, 1999 – Vermont Supreme Court Rules on Same-Sex Couples Benefits and Protections

“We hold that the state is constitutionally required to extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law…

Whether this ultimately takes the form of inclusion within the marriage laws themselves or a parallel ‘domestic partnership’ system or some equivalent statutory alternative, rests with the Legislature…

Whatever system is chosen, however, must conform with the constitutional imperative to afford all Vermonters the common benefit, protection, and security of the law…”