See also Bush, George H. W.; Cheney, Dick; Cold
War, end of; Elections in the United States, 1992;
Foreign policy of the United States; Gulf War; Mid-
dle East and North America; Powell, Colin; Russia
and North America.
Baker v. Vermont
Identification Vermont Supreme Court decision
Date Decided on December 20, 1999
The Vermont Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling extended
to same-sex couples the right to treatment equivalent to that
of traditionally married couples.
Three same-sex couples applied for and were denied
marriage licenses in Vermont under the rationale
that the dictionary definition of “marriage” as well
as the legislative intent indicated a union between
a man and a woman. The couples submitted that
the denial of marriage licenses abridged one of their
basic constitutional rights. Each sued their respec-
tive towns, and the state of Vermont moved to dis-
miss the lawsuits on the grounds that no relief could
be granted for the plaintiffs’ grievances. The trial
court granted defendants’ motion, ruling that the
marriage statutes could not be interpreted as allow-
ing same-sex marriages and that the statutes were
constitutional because they furthered the public in-
terest by promoting a link between procreation
and child rearing. After an initial dismissal by the
Vermont Superior Court in 1997, plaintiffs ap-
pealed and presented their arguments before the
Vermont Supreme Court. That court held unani-
mously that the state could not deprive same-sex
couples of the statutory benefits and protections
conferred on persons of the opposite sex who
choose to marry.The Nineties in America Baker v. Vermont 75
James Baker, left, stands with President George H. W. Bush and U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Robert Strauss during a White
House press conference in August, 1991, to discuss the coup by Soviet hard-liners to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from power.(AP/Wide
World Photos)