Amses: A long way to go | Perspective | timesargus.com – Barre Montpelier Times Argus

That President Joe Biden has invited multitudes to the White House in celebration of his signing into law the Respect for Marriage Act, landmark, bipartisan legislation protecting gay marriage, is extraordinary on its own but even more compelling considering the distance we’ve traveled since the seismic response to Vermont codifying gay relationships in 2000. Called “a momentous legal victory” by the ACLU, the civil union bill was based on the state’s Supreme Court ruing that the benefits and protections of marriage must be extended to same-sex couples.

As I recall, none of that was nearly as simple as it sounds. Laws can be changed with the stroke of a pen. Minds take a little longer — 20+ years in this case and despite how far we’ve come on paper, we’re still not done.