The national debate over gay marriage is coming to New Hampshire. The Senate begins debate Tuesday on a measure that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The bill would declare the state?s power to reject gay civil unions and similar arrangements. Supporters of gay marriage don?t just oppose the bill, they seek full legal rights.
New Hampshire?s political correspondent, John Milne, reports.
Concord?s streets usually empty out at sundown. But in Thursday night?s freezing temperatures, about 80 people rallied on the State House sidewalk in support of legal gay marriage.
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Happy freedom to marry day?crowd noise
The event by the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition was part of a national series of rallies supporting same-sex marriage. On the minds of many participants was a bill pending in the state Senate.
The measure would restrict the definition of marriage to a man and a woman, no one else. Its first hearing is planned for Tuesday.
A leading sponsor of the bill, Republican Senator Robert Kenney of Middleton, says he and other conservatives believe heterosexual marriage is an institution under attack:
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Sometimes it?s being thought of as being frivolous ? witness the recent Brittney Spears marriage. And I think there are a lot of us who think the institution of marriage needs to be stood up for and fought for.
Tuesday?s hearing puts New Hampshire into a nationwide debate over gay rights.
On Thursday the Massachusetts Legislature deadlocked on a constitutional amendment to permit civil unions, not marriage, for gay people.
Congressional Republicans hint that President Bush will back an amendment to the U-S Constitution banning gay marriage.
And some GOP strategists hope opposition to gay marriage will attract conservative Democrats in this fall?s elections.
In this context, a public rally in New Hampshire, like the one by the Freedom to Marry coalition, represents a new strategy.
In the past several anti-gay measures had been killed quietly behind the scenes.
Now the president of the Freedom to Marry group, Brian Rater, argues that it?s time for a public campaign even if it does invite a backlash.
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But we?re going to have to do it, otherwise this discrimination is going to continue on. We?re going to have to have this public debate; now is the best time, get it over with.
Other gay activists are not certain that this is the way to go.
Manchester Democrat Raymond Buckley is an openly gay state representative. He says the upcoming bill in particular creates a strategic dilemma. Buckley says it would change little in existing laws. That could make it an easy win for conservatives, but its defeat would hold little gain for people on his side of the issue.
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We?re very nervous that opponents of gay marriage will turn this into a victory for their side. We?re also nervous that supporters of gay marriage will turn this into something that it?s not.
Veteran Democratic senator Lou D?Allesandro of Manchester says there?s more to this debate than sexual mores. For D?Allesandro, laws about sexual preference strike at the heart of the state?s long-standing emphasis on individual privacy and personal independence.
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We say we?re good thinkers, we take our time, we make decisions, we make decisions based on the facts, and it?s that individual freedom which we guard so dearly. It just seems to me all of this is contrary to that.
D?Allesandro won?t predict whether this latest prohibition on same-sex marriage will succeed. He says it?s more difficult to discuss an issue when state lawmakers feel there are national implications to the debate.
For N-H-P-R News, I?m John Milne
