NH House Judiciary approves ridiculous, wantonly regressive proposal…

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10/25/2011

by Jeremy Hooper

…by an 11-6 vote. It's the first step towards taking away the freedom to marry in NH.

Cruel.

Standing up for New Hampshire Families press release:

New Hampshire Legislative Committee Takes Step toward Ending Popular Marriage Law

Stowell: Such a move completely ignores will of the people

CONCORD – With great disregard for what more than 60% of voters want, the House Judiciary Committee today approved a legislative proposal sponsored by Rep. David Bates (R-Windham) that repeals New Hampshire’s popular marriage law. Today’s vote didn’t pass with even the majority necessary to override the governor’s veto, meaning this effort to undermine New Hampshire families lacks momentum as Republicans and Democrats are united in bipartisan opposition.

“The Bates proposal is bad for freedom and bad for families,” said Craig Stowell, Republican co-chair of Standing Up for New Hampshire Families. “There is no reason to overturn New Hampshire’s popular marriage law that simply protects all families and treats all loving couples equally. This isn’t a so-called compromise and it completely ignores voters’ wishes to leave this issue alone and get back to the real business of the state.”

Earlier this month, the nonpartisan University of New Hampshire Survey Center released a poll showing fully 62% of Granite Staters oppose repealing the law, including 66% of Independents.

“Strong opponents of repealing same-sex marriage continue to outnumber strong proponents by more than 2 to 1,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the UNH Survey Center. Smith said the same thing in February when UNH released a poll with nearly identical results.

The Bates Amendment calls for a virtually meaningless contract between two people. It also increases burdens for New Hampshire businesses.

“We did not send lawmakers to Concord to revisit the marriage law,” said Stowell, a former Marine. “But a fringe group of lawmakers are squarely focused on taking away freedom and liberty from their constituents and fellow Granite Staters.”

The bill as amended is expected to go to the full House for a vote in January.