Utah lawyer to testify against gay marriage
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By Daniel Barlow Vermont Press Bureau - Published: October 26, 2007
Monte Stewart will travel more than 2,300 miles this weekend to appear before the Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection as the only lawyer opposed to same-sex marriage scheduled to speak Monday at its second public meeting.
Stewart, the president of the Utah-based Family Marriage Law Foundation, will explain to the 11-member legislative committee why marriage rights should not be extended to gay and lesbian couples in Vermont.
"The law has clearly been decided in favor of marriage being between one man and one woman," Stewart said Wednesday morning, from his office in Orem, Utah. "There are clear reasons why this institution needs to be preserved."
For its second public hearing on the controversial issue of gay marriage, the commission will hear from four law professors on the current legal picture surrounding civil unions and same-sex marriage in Vermont and other states.
Lawyers Gregory Johnson, Peter Teachout and Michael Mello are all professors at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, where Monday's session will take place, and also all supporters of gay marriage.
Johnson, who testified before the Vermont Legislature on civil unions seven years ago and recently wrote a book about the landmark law, "Civil Union: A Reappraisal," said it was easy to find attorneys here in the state to speak in support of gay marriage.
But Johnson said the law school reached out to Stewart, who has degrees from Brigham Young and Oxford universities, because of his credentials and his research and writings on gay marriage, which includes an article that Harvard Law School will publish next month.
"We had some choices, but Monte Stewart really fit the bill," Johnson said. "He seemed to be the best person to speak from that legal perspective."
Tom Little, the former Republican state representative from Shelburne who is chairman of the commission, said the commission has sent the lawyers five questions to draw their responses from as they discuss the legal issues surrounding same-sex marriage.
Little, who shepherded the civil unions bill through the Vermont House seven years ago, said he is particularly interested in hearing what – if any – state or federal benefits same-sex couples might acquire if they are married as opposed to being joined in a civil union.
Other questions that should be tackled at Monday's session include recognition by other states of same-sex unions, what pending litigation surrounding marriage rights is occurring in other states and why the Massachusetts high court reached a different conclusion in 2003 than the Vermont Supreme Court four years earlier, according to a list of the questions sent to the attorneys.
The session is intended solely to discuss the legal questions around the issue, Little said, and while the public can attend, the commission or the attorneys will not be taking questions or input.
The Marriage Family Law Foundation formed in November 2004, one year after the court decision in Massachusetts that led to that state allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Stewart said he began researching the issue in 2003 as debate over gay marriage began boiling up in that state.
"We are a charitable law firm," Stewart said. "We're on the other side of the ACLU and GLAD in every major American court decision regarding the marriage question."
Stewart said he has visited Vermont several times in recent years and has studied the court decision that led to civil unions in 2000. But he hesitated when asked about civil union laws and said he is solely focused on the marriage question.
"There are bright and able people who will tell you that civil unions undermine the strength and vitality of marriage as a social institution," he said. "And there are bright and able people who will tell you that civil unions are the appropriate way to handle the legitimate needs and gay and lesbian couples."
Little said he hopes to have detailed schedule for future meetings on same-sex marriage – the commission hopes to hold at least six meetings total and the first one occurred at Johnson State College earlier this month – at Monday's meeting.
Although several members of the commission have missed recent meetings – former Gov. Phil Hoff was not at the commission's organizational meeting in Montpelier and the first public hearing – Little said there has been no change in its makeup.
The meeting will be held at the Chase Center on Oct. 29 from 1-5 p.m.
For more information on the commission, visit its legislative Web site at www.leg.state.vt.us/workgroups/familycommission.
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@rutlandherald.com
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