Gay Couples Are Being Courted by Vermonters

They were looking for a place to tie the knot, and the Florida couple settled on Moose Meadow Lodge.

Sure, they were impressed by the Adirondack-style bed-and-breakfast, its 86 acres overlooking Hunger Mountain. Certainly, they were drawn by the idea of a private, quiet October ceremony beside the spring-fed pond.

But these bucolic delights paled beside the simple fact that Moose Meadow Lodge is in Vermont--the first and only state in the nation to formally recognize same-sex unions.

It’s not marriage, and it’s not recognized outside Vermont, but there’s nowhere else these two Florida men can go to solemnize their relationship. And some Vermont businesses expect that they represent the start of a stream of homosexual couples coming their way.

“Who knows how many people from other states will take advantage of this. I’m sure it’s going to be quite busy this year and next year,” said Linda Seville, marketing director for the New England Culinary Institute’s Inn at Essex, which hosts 100 weddings a year.

“You know Vermont is such a popular place anyway, certainly we’re going to see an increase in same-sex ceremonies,” said Leslie Keefe, executive director of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

Vermont’s Commerce Department has received hundreds of e-mail messages and letters for and against civil unions. Some tourists have threatened never to set foot in Vermont because of the new law, while others plan to visit for the first time to support the state for its initiative.

“You would expect that law would only foster additional growth, but we really aren’t going to know until we have a little bit of track record on this. . . . It’s really hard to sort this out,” said Chris Barbieri, president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

The law takes effect July 1, and Barbieri predicts that its effects will be evident “in the first couple of months.”

Same-sex ceremonies are not new in Vermont. Inns and restaurants hosted “joinings” and “affirmation” ceremonies long before the law passed.

“We’ve been doing flowers for civil ceremonies since we opened” seven years ago, said Lori Rowe, owner of Vivaldi Flowers in South Burlington. “As far as our approach is concerned, we view it as a wonderful special event where flowers are used. I think it’s marvelous.”

Rowe estimates that five of the 40 celebrations for which she provides flowers each year are same-sex ceremonies.

What will change with the civil unions law, she says, is the number of events and the style of the celebrations.

“I think where people may have been hesitant to have an event with a lot of people, they may be more willing to do so. . . . people’s ceremonies will become more public and more elaborate,” she said.

Willie Docto and Greg Trulson already advertise Moose Meadow Lodge on gay travel Web sites. Now they’re promoting their bed- and-breakfast as a place for civil unions, weddings and commitment ceremonies.

Another innkeeper, Randy Guy, who manages the Chester House Inn in Chester, has set up a Web site called GayWeddingGuide.com, which lists more than 50 gay-friendly inns in Vermont.

The day the bill was signed, Ricki Bowen, a wedding designer in South Burlington, placed an ad for her business--the Wedding Wizard--in the Pink Pages, a gay advertising database on the Internet.

“I just thought it was a good idea,” she said.

There will even be a Gay Pride beer brewed in Vermont.

The Tunbridge Brewery has been contracted by a Massachusetts company to produce it, said brewery owner Liz Trott.

When considering the bill, the Legislature estimated that roughly 1,000 in-state couples would seek civil unions. But it is impossible to gauge with any accuracy how many couples will come to Vermont.

Among them will be Lisa Spraye and her partner, Donna, who shares the same last name. They say they will come up from West Virginia this summer to scope out a setting; they’d even consider moving there.

“Anyplace that is forthright enough that could finally pass the legislation is someplace worth considering,” Lisa said.

But for now, making their relationship legal and celebrating that milestone with their families is what’s on their minds. They say they’ll invite relatives from California, Alaska and Texas.

“It will be everything each of us has ever wanted. This is the first time we’ve ever been able to talk about it and know that it can happen,” she said.

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On the Net:

https://www.GayWeddingGuide.com