Gay couples in the great majority of states do not enjoy the basic benefits that often are automatically bestowed on married heterosexual couples, such as the right of inheritance or the right to make medical decisions for, and be by the bedside of, a hospitalized spouse. Gay couples usually have to take extra, often extraordinary and usually expensive legal steps just to protect their loved ones. There may be understandable arguments for refusing to define same-sex unions as marriages, but there are no legitimate reasons for denying legal protections to an entire group of people simply because of who they are and whom they love. One hopes the votes in Vermont and the District augur better things to come.