The Vermont Supreme Court ruled today that gay couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as married couples. Just one week ago, on December 13, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a decision by the Vermont Supreme Court—made in November—that bars state tuition payments for children attending religious schools; state subsidies to private non-sectarian schools, the Vermont court said, were constitutional.
Catholic League president William Donohue spotted an irony here:
“The Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim citizens of Vermont who ascribe to the teachings of their religion, and seek to educate their children in the schools of their faith, have just been told by their state’s judges to take a walk.
“In the eyes of the Vermont State Court judges, the faithful must pay for homosexuals to get the same benefits as a married couple, even though doing so means having to subsidize expressly immoral behavior that compromises their sincerely-held religious beliefs. In addition, they must pay for public schools that they cannot support in principle and are entitled to zero relief for electing to send their children to religious schools of their choice. Welcome to Vermont.
“These decisions have little to do with fidelity to the constitution and everything to do with ideology. Coercion is a staple in the arsenal of ideologues and the Vermont judges are a textbook example. The faithful should take note and either hold their legislators accountable by pressing for a change in their state constitution or literally taking that walk. New Hampshire, we understand, is a nice place to live.”
