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New Hampshire House passes same-sex marriage bill

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a bill that would permit same-sex marriage in the state. The bill passed by a vote of 186-179, and now moves on to the New Hampshire State Senate. If approved by the Senate and signed into law by New Hampshire Governor John Lynch (D), the bill would "eliminate the exclusion of same gender couples from marriage, affirm religious freedom protections of clergy with regard to the solemnization of marriage, and provide a mechanism by which same gender couples who have entered into a civil union prior to the enactment of this bill may obtain the legal status of marriage." The New Hampshire House vote was met with derision from New Hampshire Republican Party chairman John Sununu. Lynch has opposed same-sex marriage in the state, saying that the New Hampshire civil union law passed in 2007 provides the same legal protections for same-sex couples. The New Hampshire attorney general was one of ten state attorneys general to petition the Supreme Court of California to postpone implementation of its decision to allow same-sex marriages in that state. The New Hampshire same-sex civil union law, which took effect in 2008, allows same-sex couples to enter into civil unions with the "same rights, responsibilities, and obligations as married couples." In 2005, a New Hampshire Senate commission on same-sex marriages voted to recommend that the state not allow same-sex couples to marry, not recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, and not establish a domestic partner registry.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 26, 2009 (boomark / email).