On December 20, 1999 the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in Baker v. Vermont that same-sex couples are “entitled under Chapter I, Article 7, of the Vermont Constitution to obtain the same benefits and protections afforded by Vermont law to married opposite-sex couples”. The Court did not rule on whether Vermont was required to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but suggested that the legislature could enact a parallel licensing scheme affording the same substantial benefits as marriage to same-sex couples. After very contentious debate, the legislature followed the Court’s suggestion and passed H.B. 847, which was signed on April 26, 2000 by Governor Howard Dean. The law went into effect on July 1, 2000. Vermont thus became the second U.S. state (after California) to offer legal stat