The majority and dissenting opinions in Lewis v. Harris closely mirror previous decisions in Vermont and Massachusetts, with the majority opinion in Lewis following the logic of the Vermont decision and the dissenting opinion adopting the logic of the Massachusetts case.
In 1999, Vermont's supreme court ruled that gay couples should be given the same rights as opposite-sex couples, but that the state legislature should determine whether those rights should be offered through marriage or another institution. Vermont eventually settled on civil unions.
In 2004, the Massachusetts supreme court, however, determined that the state had no grounds to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. That state became the first — and only — in the country to allow gay marriages.
Baker v. Vermont (1999) majority opinion
We hold that the State is constitutionally required to extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law. Whether this ultimately takes the form of inclusion within the marriage laws themselves or a parallel "domestic partnership" system or some equivalent statutory alternative, rests with the Legislature.
Lewis majority opinion
We have decided that our State Constitution guarantees that every statutory right and benefit conferred to heterosexual couples through civil marriage must be made available to committed same-sex couples. Now the Legislature must determine whether to alter the long accepted definition of marriage ... Plaintiffs' ... next appeal must be to their fellow citizens whose voices are heard through their popularly elected representatives.
Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2004) majority opinion
The dissimilitude between the terms "civil marriage" and "civil union" is not innocuous; it is a considered choice of language that reflects a demonstrable assigning of same-sex, largely homosexual, couples to second-class status ... The history of our nation has demonstrated that separate is seldom, if ever, equal.
Lewis dissenting opinion
When we say that the Legislature cannot deny the tangible benefits of marriage to same-sex couples, but then suggest that "a separate statutory scheme, which uses a title other than marriage," is presumptively constitutional, we demean the plaintiffs' claim. What we "name" things matters, language matters ... Ultimately, the message is that what same-sex couples have is not as important or as significant as "real" marriage, that such lesser relationships cannot have the name of marriage.
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