Senate Passes Same-Sex Marriage

The first public indication that the gay marriage bill would molt on the Senate floor came moments before the debate was to begin.

“The senate is in recess -- one minute.”

Sylvia Larsen soon amended that announcement.

“We are out or recess for me to announce that we need more time to work on the floor amendment so we will be in recess until 1:15.”

When the Senators returned, Judiciary Committee chair Deb Reynolds, who last week said NH wasn’t ready for same sex marriage, took center stage with a decidedly different message.

“Recently I’ve had many conversations with constituents throughout senate district 2 who believe now is the time to move forward with marriage equality in NH.”

Reynolds added that the new bill meets the senators shared goals of equality under the law for every state resident.

“Many people worked so hard to reach a compromise which affirms the importance of religious sanctity of marriage and now makes civil marriages available for all. This is a compromise...”

That didn’t involve Republicans; not that it would have made any difference. Senate Minority leader Peter Bragdon.

“We feel the term marriage for centuries has had a traditional meaning of one man one woman. And we feel that term should not be co-opted for use for other purposes.”

Other Republicans were less measured. Derry Senator Bob Letourneau insisted legalizing same sex marriage would pave the way for more radical changes.

“Think of the arguments that have been made in favor of this bill. Would they not apply to polygamy as well?”

Not the one made by Meriden Democrat Matthew Houde. At 39, he’s the youngest Senator by more than a decade. He said the public is ahead of lawmakers in accepting what he said is same sex marriage’s inevitability.

“This issue is not question of if for me. It’s a question of when . We should be eager to be on the right side of this issue, and proud when we do so.”

Yet for the several dozen same sex marriage critics in attendance, anger was the dominant emotion.

“I’m very upset, as you can tell.’

Katherine Steele of Benton, was particularly angry with her Senator, Deb Reynolds.

“You don’t tell people in your district one thing and then three days later come down here and vote the opposite way; it’s her character. These people need some backbone.”

Steele said that also goes for Governor John Lynch.

“He said marriage is best between a man and a woman. He better veto it. But I don’t have heck of a lot of faith.”

And Steele’s skepticism isn’t unreasonable. Just one Seantor from Lynch’s own party, Manchester’s Lou D’Allesandro opposed the measure. And the Governor has never spelled out his plans for the bill. The Governor’s said he believes marriage is between a man and a woman. But that message was absent from the statement he issued after the vote. Instead, Lynch noted that same-sex marriage raises strong emotions, and that civil unions give same-sex couples the same rights under state law that heterosexual couples get. Lynch went on to say that to achieve “further real progress” the federal government would need to take action to recognize NH civil unions. Senate Majority leader Maggie Hassan says her caucus never consulted with Lynch as it developed the amendment.

“I don’t know how this will end up. I’ve got great respect for the Governor. He’s got to think this through and do what he thinks is right, and we handed him the amendment this morning. So, few of us would decide whether we’d decide something of this significance on a quick read.”

An interesting comment on a bill that was still being drafted just hours before. But if Governor Lynch is looking for guidance, state Republicans are out to provide it. They’ve already called for a veto.