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Loading ...NH gay marriage ballot question thwarted
05.28.2009 12:23pm EDT
(Concord, New Hampshire) The New Hampshire Senate has turned down a GOP bid to put the issue of marriage equality in front of voters in 2010.
As the legislature haggles with Gov. John Lynch over the wording of a bill to provide marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples, Republicans attempted to seize an opportunity to propose the issue be put to voters in a non-binding referendum.All 10 Senate Republicans voted for the proposal. It was defeated when all 14 Senate Democrats opposed it.
The House and Senate will soon name a conference committee to draft a compromise bill on same-sex marriage that would be acceptable to Lynch.
A same-sex marriage bill passed the legislature earlier this month, but Lynch said he would veto it unless it offered better protections to churches that oppose same-sex marriage.
The revisions approved last week in the Senate by a 14-10 vote would have made it clear that churches, church organizations and staff are protected from lawsuits if they refuse to permit same-sex marriages.
But when it went to the House it was defeated by two votes – 188-186.
If a compromise is reached and Lynch signs the bill, it would make New Hampshire the sixth state to permit same-sex marriage and the fifth in New England, excluding only Rhode Island.
Outside of New England, gay marriage is legal in Iowa.
I think the state should ban Republican marriage. Can we get a vote on this, please?
I’d vote on that and any other state that thinks it’s okay to vote for anyones civil rights. It’s so wrong. I’m tired of them saying it’s God’s will but whose god, certainly not mine. The US Constitution clearly states that everyone is entitled to LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. This should be the only thing the courts should be looking at and not letting all the people in a state for on gay rights. It’s so wrong.
That last line should read not letting everyone in a state vote on gay rights.
They need to get this bill approved and signed now. All this stalling is not doing anyone any good.
With all the nut cases that try to take away our rights by saying that marriage is “One Man and One Woman” should really reconsider that. Espically where the polygamists live. I think that most of them live in Utah, home of everybodies favorite “Mormon Sect”. They really should enforce this idea if they are going to open up their big mouths. Just an idea.
Can we get more information about what happened in NH?
What changes were made to accommodate the governor? What part of the changes did the House not like?
It would be nice to have the full story.
Again, in New Hampshire as in other states, elected Republicans insist on trying to stop the march of time as America moves toward equal rights for all….and recognizes that “separate but equal” is NEVER “equal”. America needs two parties, but how do so many of today’s Republicans ever expect to become a majority party, or even an effective opposition, if they try to halt progress and take their marching orders from the dwindling but loud members of the radical right?
I have just signed a law just two days ago at 3PM. I called it the “Religious Bigot And Republican Marriage Ban Act 2009″
Section 1: “any person having a religious belief that discriminates or forces a belief on to other individual persons on the basis of sexual orientation or gender is herby banned for life from arranging, performing and getting a marriage licence themselves”.
Section 2: “any Republican party member who incites hatred, forces a belief on to other individual persons, any vilification, bigotry of any shape or form or even encourages statute or consitutional marriage bans on the basis of two people of the same-sex, but still allowing marriages between two people of the opposite-sex is hearby banned for life from arranging, performing and getting a marriage licence themselves”.
* Signed and Filed on 27 May 2009;
* Effective from 1 June 2009.
I recently read an article about 60 pc support for SSMs in Rhode Island, however since 1997 there have been SSM bills, but it has never made it passed committee – maybe the lawmakers can think about it for a second and hopefully pass the bill into actual law. Remember the Rhode Island “sodomy law” was only repealed in 1998.
http://www.hrc.org/your_community/1760.htm
Pogovio: everything is happening behind closed doors in NH right now. Safe to say there is a lot of lobbying going on, but information is virtually non-existent. We need to continue sending emails and letters of support for marriage, especially to Governor Lynch. If Lynch doesn’t come on board it won’t matter what the legislature does in the next week as we don’t have the votes to override a veto. I’m cautiously optimistic things will work out…
If we lose New Hampshire marriage rights, then the Democrats and gay rights supporters will be to blame. Good grief, who cares if some churches refuse to marry us. I even support the governor’s stand! The churches will, in the end, will be judged by God so let the idiots do what they want.
When interracial marriage was being debated at the time, were similar demands made for “protections for churches who don’t wanna marry two same-sex people”? Religion is making me progressively angrier, let me just say.
How about if we introduced a ballot initiatve banning religious cults meddling in the political process and while we’re at it, seek an overturn of their tax-exempt status for starters? Let them get a dose of their own hate medicine for a change. Civil rights should never be put to any form of referenda and what gives voters the right to say who gets what? This is democracy? More like mob rule to me.
And here is video of OLSON and BOIES discussing their FEDERAL SUIT….they were on Hardball last night with CMatthews.
youtube.com/watch?v=YUlDZLZ1Gls
A little over a week after the House rejected language Gov. John Lynch had demanded, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a compromise Friday that added one sentence and changed one word in the Senate-passed bill. Negotiators planned to sign off on the final language by Monday, allowing for a vote by the full House and Senate on Wednesday.
Both chambers have approved bills to allow same-sex marriage, but Lynch said he wouldn’t sign it unless lawmakers made it clear that churches and religious groups not only would not have to officiate at a gay marriage but also would not have to provide services, facilities or goods of any kind to participants.