Just when everyone thought parliamentary procedures had killed it in the Granite State, things turned quickly around.
The New Hampshire Senate voted, 13-11, today to allow adult same-sex couples to marry, approving an amended version of a House-passed bill after a vote to kill the legislation altogether failed by the same margin.
The bill passed by the Senate recognizes a distinction between civil and religious marriages and allows religious denominations to decide whether they will conduct religious marriages for gay or lesbian couples. Civil marriages would be available to both heterosexual and same-sex couples under the law. “This bill recognizes the sanctity of religious marriage and the diversity of religious beliefs about marriage while still providing equal access to civil marriage to all New Hampshire citizens,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, an Exeter Democrat.
The legislation cannot advance to the governor for his signature or veto unless both houses approve the same version [...]
Blue Hampshire's Mike Caulfield gives us a preview of what comes next:
I am sure that the House will vote to concur with this amendment next week. We will need to refocus our energies toward Governor Lynch.
That said, I think the nature of this session indicates a stronger chance that I might have thought that Lynch will sign. The last minute compromise here indicates that the Senators certainly see this in the realm of possibility.
All the chatter from NH indicated that Lynch didn't want to see this on his desk, and hoped the Senate would kill it. Now, he's got a hot potato on his hands.
I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if Lynch actually signs this bill. More likely is that he lets it pass into law without his signature (which he can do if he doesn't veto it within a proscribed amount of time). That would further cement New Hampshire as a libertarian bastion, despite the efforts of the radical right-wing Manchester Union-Leader, which has been agitating against this legislation:
"The human race,'' Murchison writes, "understands marriage as a compact reinforcing social survival and protection. It has always been so. It will always be so, even if every state Supreme Court pretended to declare that what isn't suddenly is. Life does not work in this manner.''
Gov. Lynch is correct when he says the civil-unions law passed last year guarantees the rights of homosexual couples. This issue is not about establishing "equal rights'' for a minority. It is about protecting the human species by recognizing and honoring that special compact.
The people pushing these "gay marriage'' bills nationwide don't want tolerance. They are about forcing society to embrace and give positive reinforcement to their lifestyle and agenda in our schools and in every other area of public life imaginable.
In other words, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE IF THE GAYS GET MARRIED AAAIYEEEEEEE!!!!! Those guys are hilarious, and it's great to see the NH Senate brush aside that ridiculously alarmist rhetoric in order to deliver marriage equality to all of its residents.
It also looks like Maine doesn't want to be left all alone up there with the rest of their enlightened New England neighbors joining the equality bandwagon. Its legislature took its first important vote today:
The joint judiciary committee of the Legislature approved a bill to allow same-sex marriage in the state, setting the stage for the House and Senate to vote on it as soon as next week. Eleven of the 14 committee members voted in favor of the bill, two voted against it and one proposed letting voters decide the matter in a referendum. Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, has not said whether he will sign the bill.
Baldacci has previously opposed gay marriage, but more recently said he was keeping an "open mind" about it. If the legislative vote is as lopsided as the committee vote (which had Republican support), then we're in good shape.
New England continues to lead the way in Equality (along with Iowa). But New York, New Jersey, and California will hopefully soon be joining the club.