First Homosexual Civil Union in U.S. Ends after Five Years
By Terry Vanderheyden

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont, December 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The first same-sex couple to enter into a civil-union “marriage” in the US is getting a divorce.

Kathleen Peterson and Carolyn Conrad were in court in October to dissolve their civil union and to decide on a division of home and property.

“All I want to say is that the civil union was a big source of pride for me and now it's not,” Peterson said Wednesday, as reported by the AP. The pair was the first to enter into a civil union after former Vermont governor Howard Dean signed the legislation into law in 2000.

The AP report highlighted that although 7,459 same-sex couples have entered into civil unions in Vermont, only 1,137 – 15 percent – were state residents. So far 78 dissolutions have been registered in Vermont. Story