UCC leaders are commending the Vermont legislature for legalizing same-gender marriage, making it the fourth U.S. state to do so.
Only last week, Iowa’s Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision that found unconstitutional the state’s “Defense of Marriage Act” which restricted marriage to one man and one woman. The April 3 judicial ruling followed similar rulings by courts in Massachusetts and Connecticut affording the legal rights, recognitions and responsibilities of civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples.
“It is not the gender of the partners but the quality of relationship and commitment that matter,” said the Rev. Lynn Bujnak, UCC Vermont Conference Minister, testifying before the legislature as it was taking up the measure. Bujnak and the Rev. Peg Slater, also a UCC minister, have been in a committed same-gender relationship for 24 years.
With 144 churches in Vermont, the UCC is the largest Protestant denomination in the state. In 2005, the UCC General Synod overwhelmingly affirmed a resolution in support of same-gender marriage equality, making the denomination the first and largest mainline Christian body to do so.
The Rev. Mike Schuenemeyer, the UCC’s minister for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender concerns, praised the tenacity of the Vermont legislators in overriding the governor’s veto.
“The legislature has acted rightly to end the second class status of Civil Unions so that all couples may be treated equally in both the name and legal status of marriage,” said Schuenemeyer. “I applaud the many people from our UCC churches in Vermont, and other people of faith, who shared their stories and worked hard to make this possible.”