Vermont and Same Sex Marriage - Response from an Assemblyman

IRA TROMBLEY of Grand Isle, Grand Isle County, Democrat

On April 7, 2009, the Vermont State Assembly voted to overrule the governor's veto and successfully neutered marriage in that state, allowing the state to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Marriage advocates who had organized to fight on behalf of marriage were largely ignored. The governor was ignored. The majority of people in the state were ignored. Yet, the damage was done. The state redefined this fundamental social institution.

As part of the push on behalf of marriage, I called certain of Vermont's Assembly members and emailed all of them. Just the other day, I received an email reply from Ira Trombley, a member of the State Assembly:

You must have a computer virus. Your email, below, is identical to others.
Why would someone in far off, sunny AZ try to influence a domestic issue in tiny VT?
Doesn't AZ have an economic crisis to solve?
I did not like what AZ did to the housing market, but I did not bombard AZ with thousands of emails.

>>> 03/25/09 7:11 PM >>>
March 25, 2009
The Honorable Ira Trombley
115 State Street
State House
Montpelier, VT 05633-5501

Other marriage advocates received the same type of email - a form email - from Mr. Trombley.

Mr. Trombley, in response to real concerns about neutering marriage, gives a joke of an answer. He shows a complete lack of understanding of the national import that Vermont may have on neutering marriage. He shows a lack of understanding of organized political advocacy. He also demonstrates a flippant and denigrating response to a very real and serious query.

You must have a computer virus. Your email, below, is identical to others.

Does Mr. Trombley really not understand how political campaigning and political advocacy works? (I am skeptical.) Does he not understand that each of these generated emails comes from and individual? (Of course he does. Why else would he bother to write me back?)

Yes, the message is the same as others. The thousands upon thousands of individuals all expressed the same concern - that the Vermont Assembly not make the mistake of neutering marriage. Apparently the message was lost on Mr. Trombley.

Why would someone in far off, sunny AZ try to influence a domestic issue in tiny VT?

This flippant response shows absolutely no understanding of the importance that each state holds in its decisions about same sex marriage. Mr. Trombley also shows, or chooses to ignore, the fight for marriage going on across the country. Perhaps he's unaware of Tim Gill's political machine. (I am skeptical.) Tim Gill is an extraordinarily rich man who created a foundatation to advocate gay rights and same sex marriage. From Gill's website:

In just more than ten years of existence, the Gill Foundation has become one of the nation's largest private foundations focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights. During these years, the foundation has invested more than $120 million to support programs and nonprofit organizations across the country that share its commitment to equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. (Source)

The $120 million, from a $200 million foundation, has bought gay advocates at local and state levels through out of state contributions. (Just stop and think, for a moment, how much money this really is, from a single man who wants to push his gay agenda on the rest of the United States! Think of how much power this one man wields because of his money. Is this how our government is supposed to operate, at the behest of one rich man?) A newspaper article shows Gills intentions:

“As an engineer, I like experiments,” [Gill] explained. “The only way you find new tools is to take one out and try it, and I’m perfectly happy to be in this for the long haul.” His general success in state races has already stimulated plans for a larger target list.... The challenge, he believes, will be expanding the ranks of donors while maintaining the focus of those who participated last year. (The Atlantic)

Gill gives contributions, behind the scenes, to help elect key state officials sympathetic to gays. He also contributed an extraordinary amount to try and overthrow California's Proposition 8. One example of his long reach will suffice. From a recent Iowa election:

Over the summer, [Danny] Carroll’s [Republican speaker pro tempore of Iowa’s House of Representatives] opponent started receiving checks from across the country—significant sums for a statehouse race, though none so large as to arouse suspicion (the gifts topped out at $1,000).... And only someone truly versed in the world of gay causes would have noticed a $1,000 contribution from Denver, Colorado, and been aware that its source, Tim Gill, is the country’s biggest gay donor, and the nexus of an aggressive new force in national politics. (The Atlantic)

Tim Gill and his politcal machine raised "significant sums" of money, from outside of Iowa, to throw the state election in favor of someone Tim Gill wanted in power. Politics is not local any more. If Tim Gill is interested enough to affect elections and pro-gay activism across the country, then the rest of the country has to fight back. My email from sunny Arizona is a pittance compared to the Tim Gill machine.

The idea that the vote about same sex marriage in Vermont as merely a domestic issue shows a lack of understanding of the scope of the question. For instance, the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is under attack, not the least from President Obama himself who promised to repeal the act. DOMA protects marriage across the states from those states which have neutered it.

As another example, the fallout from California's Supreme Court decision today sparked protests in over 100 US cities. Gay activists protest in the streets even as I write this, including several city streets in "tiny" Vermont. If same sex marriage is merely a domestic issue, why do people in Vermont protest against something that happened in California?

Clearly, Mr. Trombley, this is not merely a "domestic issue in tiny VT."

Doesn't AZ have an economic crisis to solve? I did not like what AZ did to the housing market, but I did not bombard AZ with thousands of emails.

I'm happy that Mr. Trombley is concerned for the economic welfare of Arizona but since we settled the same sex marriage issue by amending our state constitution, our legislature hasn't been sidtracked from taking care of our domestic business by spending its time trying to neuter marriage.

Mr. Trombley, I understand that I am not a citizen of Vermont and perhaps you are confused as to why someone not from your state would want to protect the institution. To clarify, let me restate my own principles in this matter:

Marriage is a union between a man and a woman to establish boundaries of responsible procreation. Any other social structure is not a marriage.

Society must be built on conservative moral principles as well as the foundational principles of the United States government.

The foundational principles of the United States include the ideal that government oversteps its boundaries when it tries to redefine a foundational social institution such as marriage.

Certain individuals and groups derail the political systems of our states and country for their own gains. These people have sidestepped the foundational structures of our republic to establish power structures outside of the will of the people.

Gay activists have, under the guise of civil rights, derailed the ideas and gains of the civil rights movement.

Neutering marriage has implications that range from what our children are taught in schools to individual and collective freedom of religious expression and practice. What affects one state will have implications for the rest.