Religion & Law

After the New Hampshire House narrowly refused yesterday to pass a same-sex marriage bill with reasonable religious-liberty protections demanded by Democratic governor John Lynch, there now appear to be negotiations to return to the issue.  New Hampshire seems likely to pass SSM sometime soon; the question is whether it will act as a decent model for allowing religious traditionalists to follow their conscience as well.  As background on the issues, here is the letter that Robin Wilson, Carl Esbeck, Rick, and I wrote to the governor on May 1.  The original New Hampshire bill had a wholly inadequate provision protecting only clergy from actually having to solemnize a marriage.  The governor's proposal would, among other good things, protect other religious organizations and their employees, and in contexts beyond the marriage ceremony itself that involve "promotion" of a marriage: for example, a religious college objecting to including same-sex couples in married-student housing.  The governor's proposal is not perfect; it wouldn't (as we argued should happen) protect individuals in small commercial businesses, like wedding photographers, who personally, directly participate in a marriage ceremony.  But Gov. Lynch nevertheless deserves credit and support for standing up for protecting the deep beliefs and identities of both groups, traditionalist objectors as well as gay couples.