NH repeal of marriage equality advances

The New Hampshire House Judiciary committee voted 3 - 1 Wednesday, Sept. 14 in support of a proposed bill that would end marriage equality across the state, the Union Leader reported.

The bill, if passed, would make same-sex marriage illegal. The Judiciary committee amended the language so that passage of the bill would bring back some form of legal civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

The full House will not be able to vote on the bill, HB 437, until 2012.

"It goes out of its way to employ discriminatory language," Standing Up For New Hampshire Families spokesman Tyler Deaton said of the proposed legislation, telling the Leader it was "pernicious."

Rep. Gregory Sorg, R-Easton, a co-sponsor of the amended bill, insisted that legalized same-sex marriage is a detriment to society as a whole?even if those drawbacks are not readily visible. "Some societal changes take generations to manifest themselves," he told the Leader.

Marriage equality was legalized in the state of New Hampshire in June of 2009, going into effect Jan. 1, 2010. Repeal efforts were soon on the horizon, but a Granite State Poll, sponsored by WMUR-TV and conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center in February of this year, found that that majority of NH residents oppose repeal of the state's marriage equality law. According to the poll, 29 percent of New Hampshire adults support repeal, 62 percent oppose repeal, and 9 percent felt neutral or do not have an opinion.

Bishop Gene Robinson testified in support of same-sex marriage at a 2009 hearing, prior to the vote that ultimately legalized marriage equality. "While marriage has served many purposes historically, including procreation, we have never prohibited from marrying those unable to procreate, either because of infertility or advanced age. Just 40 years ago we changed the definition of marriage to include people of different races, a change in definition that allowed Barack Obama's parents to be married. The definition of marriage has always been evolving, and the inclusion of same-gender partners is simply the next logical revision of that evolution," Robinson said, specifying that the then-proposed bill would have no effect on religion.

The Union Leader newspaper in November of 2009 pushed for a referendum vote on the issue, saying in a Nov. 7 editorial, "Defining marriage ought to be up to the people, not politicians or judges." The Manchester-based newspaper denied that their request for a referendum vote came from a place of "hate," saying, "It's about protecting the cornerstone of modern society. End the political back-and-forth and let the people decide."

(The paper later came under fire for refusing to publish a gay couple's wedding announcement in October of 2010. According to wedding planner Kate Parker, her clients Greg Gould and Aurelio Tin� were told that the privately owned Union Leader newspaper would not print an announcement of their wedding. According to Parker, Gould was told that it was the "policy of the newspaper" to print only heterosexual wedding announcements.)

A 2010 effort to repeal the state's marriage equality law was quashed when proposed legislation failed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives with a vote of 109 - 210 on Feb. 17. A two-thirds vote would have been needed to include the bill on the November ballot that year.

"I think that the good citizens of New Hampshire who are proud to call our state 'home' will not vote to take rights away from their neighbors. Why would we take away these rights from 734 of our citizens [who had married under the new law at the time], and the thousands more who will join them in coming years?" New Hampshire State Representative Jim Splaine?a primary sponsor of the 2009 bill that legalized same-sex marriage in the Granite State?wrote in a 2010 op-ed for Bay Windows, saying that discrimination is "not the 'New Hampshire way.'"

Governor John Lynch (D), who signed the original marriage equality bill into law, has said he would veto a repeal bill, Bay Windows' Dana Rudolph reported this January. Activists and marriage equality supporters, however, are concerned since Republicans hold a veto-proof majority in both houses.

"Great kudos to Governor John Lynch, who has been steadfast in promising a veto of any repeal effort," Marc Solomon, Freedom to Marry's National Campaign Director, said on the organization's website, following a March 3 decision by the New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee to retain the repeal bill, which was resurrected Wednesday.