MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Ninety-seven of Vermont’s 180 lawmakers have signed a letter calling on Congress to make partners in civil unions eligible for federal programs like Social Security and military survivor benefits.

“We urge you to extend the same federal statutory legal benefits and protections offered to married couples to those couples who have entered into a state-sanctioned civil union,” said the letter from the Vermont legislators to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Vermont became the first jurisdiction in the world to offer the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples when it enacted its civil union law in 2000. From the beginning, though, the state law has not applied to federal benefits for which spouses in a heterosexual marriage are eligible.

Kevin Blier of the Center For American Cultural Renewal, which opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions, said what the letters signers are seeking would violate the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause because it would grant rights to a class of Vermonters not available to residents of states that don’t recognize civil unions.

“Vermont needs to be a responsible steward in our federal system and respect the public policy of other states,” Blier said in a statement. “I ask, do Vermonters want Nevada’s prostitution laws imposed on us?”

Benefits sought for civil union partners include federal inheritance rights, veterans’ benefits, immunity in federal court from being compelled to testify against a spouse, tax benefits available to married couples filing jointly, immigration rights and others.

“I’m the only [Vermont] state legislator with a civil union,” said Rep. Jason P. Lorber, D-Burlington. “My partner and I are very happy to have a civil union. It’s un-American to discriminate. We shouldn’t be giving certain benefits only to straight people.”

Lorber said he has a cousin who “has a partner of more than 10 years. Her partner is European and doesn’t have U.S. citizenship. They’ve gone through all the different channels with immigration. They can’t marry, so she [his cousin’s partner] can’t become a U.S. citizen.”

He said the couple had decided to move to Canada. “You shouldn’t have to choose between your country and the love of your life.”

The lawmakers’ letter quotes comments by President Bush last year in which he said he did not oppose states offering civil unions to same-sex couples.

“The granting of federal statutory benefits and protections to individuals who have already entered into a state-sanctioned civil union would not constitute the equivalent of establishing a federal definition of marriage,” said the letter, whose lead signers were Vermont House Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Welch.