By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
Concord – Gay marriage legislation became law in New Hampshire this afternoon. Gov. John Lynch signed the bills just after 5:20 p.m. before dozens of enthusiastic supporters of same-sex marriage. New Hampshire's law takes effect Jan. 1.
HB 73, compromise legislation demanded by the governor, was passed by a vote of 14-10 in the Senate and 198-176 in the House today. HB 73 (text), was an add-on to the gay marriage bill itself, HB 436 (text), and to HB 310 (text), which made technical changes to the main bill. HB 73 clarifies the rights of religious organizations and their employees to refuse to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies or celebrations. It states that religious groups have exclusive control over doctrine, teaching and beliefs on who can marry within theirfaiths....
And now Rhode Island stands alone in New England, the only state in the region not allowing same-sex marriage.
That said, that's probably it for a while. New York seems profoundly conflicted about what to do -- or, to be more precise, one of its chambers is devoutly and most sincerely avoiding a vote on the issue -- and it's not really on the radar for any other states at the current time. Even if it were, it's hard to imagine a place where it could be expected to pass right now. Despite Nevada's legislature approving a domestic partnership law over its governor's veto, the rest of the West offers a most forbidding and more or less Republican landscape. (Granted, an unusually populist Republican landscape, on the whole.) The Midwest, Iowa aside, doesn't seem terribly inclined to consider the issue; Illinois has a domestic partnership law stalled in committee, and I don't think Minnesota or Wisconsin has anything coming up, and I can't quite imagine that it would pass in either state anyway. And the South ... well. Yes. Quite. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be anything on the immediate horizon.
Though, I have to say, even if nothing else happens in the next year or so ... it's been quite the six months, hasn't it?
Posted by iain at June 03, 2009 10:29 PM
