Vermont begins
same-sex marriage debate

Vermont's senate and house have appointed a volunteer commission to ask Vermonters whether same-sex couples should have the right to marry, the Associated Press reports.

Former state representative Tom Little will lead the commission, which is scheduled to finish its study by the end of next April. Little also served as a chairman of the house judiciary committee in 2000, when civil unions were legalized in Vermont.

House speaker Gaye Symington said the legislature is unlikely to begin discussing same-sex marriage until its 2009 session.

Republican governor Jim Douglas believes the same-sex marriage debate could bring more harm than good, saying that civil union laws already give same-sex couples the same statewide rights shared by heterosexual spouses. He also expressed concern that the debate would "reopen... wounds" from the civil unions law's difficult passage. (The Advocate)