Forgot to do this yesterday

Vermont makes same-sex marriage legal, period.

Vermont legalized gay marriage on Tuesday after lawmakers overrode a veto from the governor by a wafer-thin margin, making the New England state the fourth in the United States where gays can wed.

The vote, nine years after Vermont was first in the United States to adopt a same-sex civil-union law, also makes the tiny state of 624,000 people the first in the nation to introduce gay marriage through legislative action instead of the courts.

Meanwhile, Iowa's Governor managed to show a vestigial backbone on the issue:

Gov. Chet Culver said Tuesday that he is reluctant to support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Iowa.

Culver's statement broke his silence about his position on the Iowa Supreme Court ruling issued Friday that allows same-sex marriage in Iowa. His comments had been eagerly anticipated by political opponents as well as supporters of legalizing gay marriage.

The Democratic governor based his position in part on the court's statement that denial of the right to marry for same-sex couples constitutes discrimination.
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"Therefore ... I am reluctant to support amending the Iowa Constitution to add a provision that our Supreme Court has said is unlawful and discriminatory," he said.

Culver's office released the written statement about 4 p.m. The governor has declined to answer questions from reporters.

Like I said "vestigial" backbone.

But that's miles better than his Republican opposition.

Meanwhile,

An Iowa Supreme Court decision that allows same-sex couples to marry is scheduled to take effect on April 27 at the earliest, court administrators announced Tuesday.

The ruling was to take effect 21 days after it was issued, which would have been April 24. But state budget cuts have forced the courts to close that day so employees can take unpaid leave.

Court administrators announced that the Varnum vs. Brien ruling will instead take effect April 27, unless one party files a petition for a rehearing.

Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, whose office represented the Polk County recorder in defending the law, has said he does not plan to seek a rehearing.

Good for the Polk County Attorney's office, which was, after all, bound to take the position it did on the then law and its appeal but always refused to be jerks about it.