MONTPELIER, Vermont (AP):

Vermont's Republican governor said yesterday for the first time that he will veto a gay-marriage proposal if it passes the state Legislature.

Speaking at an afternoon news conference, Governor Jim Douglas said that he thought Vermont's first-in-the-nation civil unions law, passed in 2000, provided sufficient rights to same-sex couples and that he believed "marriage should remain between a man and woman."

"For those reasons and because I believe that by removing any uncertainty about my position we can move more quickly beyond this debate, I am announcing that I intend to veto this legislation when it reaches my desk," he proclaimed.

Vermont would become the third U.S. state, along with Massachusetts and Connecticut, to allow same-sex marriage. The governor's announcement drew immediate condemnation from the Democratic House speaker and Senate president pro tem and from the head of the leading group supporting same-sex marriage in Vermont.