31.   Alamo Rental Cars, for instance, recently introduced an advertisement depicting a gay couple.

32.   But a recent cause of anger throughout Vermont is the civil unions law allowing gay couples be joined in marriagelike civil unions.

33.   But it does cost gay couples, because they pay income taxes on the value of the partner benefit.

34.   But most corporations and government departments do not, and other laws prevent, for example, adoption by gay couples.

35.   But Quebec will now extend greater parental rights to gay couples than elsewhere in the world, rights advocates here say.

36.   Critics often say gay couples are more prone to sexually abuse their kids, make them gay or expose them to cruel teasing.

37.   David R. Moats, the editorial page editor of The Rutland Herald in Vermont, argued for a law allowing civil unions for gay couples.

38.   Despite lingering prejudice, it is starting to embrace gay couples.

39.   DeLeo and Dillon envision a community where gay couples can live together in peace, where loneliness can be staved off and the residents insulated from the meanness outside.

40.   DSS Commissioner Linda Carlisle also defended her agencies use of gay couples as foster parents, even when the placement faces objections from the biological parents.