Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day: David Bates

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Friday January 03, 2020 · 4:31 AM PST

2020/01/03 · 04:31

Former New Hampshire state legislator David Bates, who for whatever reason, dug in against a Girl Scout to oppose her idea for a bill to change the legal age someone can be married from 13 to 16.

Welcome to what is the 818th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be discussing David Bates, a former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives for four non-consecutive terms from 2008-2018. Bates’ signature issue was, by most accounts, the “sanctity of marriage” and denying gay people the ability to get legally married, sponsoring attempts to repeal legalized same sex marriages in New Hampshire. Although, it didn’t seem like Bates was content to stop there, because he was arguing against marriage equality on the grounds that being gay was “a preferential choice”, and therefore LGBTQ rights should not be treated as a protected civil right.

As revolting of an opinion as that might be, it still is not the worst thing David Bates ever did during his tenure on the issue of marriage Back in 2017, a New Hampshire Girl Scout named Cassie Levesque lobbied the state legislature to try and raise the minimum age that someone could be married in New Hampshire to 16 from a disturbingly low 13. And Bates, specifically, was the legislator who blocked the bill, because it was “from a minor doing a Girl Scout project, and he cited that the bill should be kept on the books because of “when there’s an unplanned pregnancy”:

“We’re asking the legislature to repeal a law that’s been on the books for over a century, that’s been working without difficulty, on the basis of a request from a minor doing a Girl Scout project.

There was a time in our society when people believed that…when there’s an unplanned pregnancy, rather than that child be born out of wedlock, the best thing would be that they would be raised with the natural mother and father, and so marriages were encouraged. Obviously, 13 is the extreme, but that’s the principle behind it.”

Because the best thing to do with a 13 year old girl who gets pregnant by accident is to force her into a marriage she isn’t ready for, either.

Outside of having backwards-ass views from the 19th Century, Bates also supported Voter ID laws aimed at voter suppression, attempting to repeal the buffer zone around abortion clinics in the state, voting against both a ban on gay conversion therapy on minors, as well as voting against a bill to prevent discrimination based on gender identity, and finally a vote against repealing the death penalty in the state.

David Bates was already annoying the mainstream GOP in New Hampshire by starting a knockoff “Freedom Caucus” similar to the one in Washington D.C. and the Texas state legislature in his final term, and perhaps with the disgust he created over the child marriage ban combined with the Democratic Blue Wave approaching in 2018, he opted to not run for re-election. We will, at this time, wish him the deepest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salutes.

Anyway, we’d like to end this story by also pointing out that Cassie Levesque was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in the 2018 elections. Now an adult, herself, she’s trying to raise the legal age one can be married in the state to 18. We wish HER the best in that endeavor, and hope that she is well on the way to a long and effective career.

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