(NH) Senate approves, House to vote on same-sex marriage this afternoon

[struggle4progress]

Source: Nashua Telegraph

Published: Wednesday, June 3, 2009

CONCORD - The State Senate embraced the latest compromise legalizing same-sex marriage today but the real test lies in the House of Representatives later today.

Plymouth Democratic Sen. Beth Reynolds said the final change should assure religious leaders that they may legally discriminate against same-sex marriage if it violates their beliefs.

"The changes augment, buttress and bolster the rights of religious freedom and they strike the appropriate balance between two values that the people of New Hampshire support, equal rights for all and the right to religious freedom,’’ Reynolds said

Read more: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090603/NEWSBLOG/906039919/-1/XML15

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If I understand correctly, the rightwing attempted to derail this earlier, by claiming that churches would be forced to marry gay couples if the original bill passed. Such strange and irrational claims seem to be common in these fights. NH apparently attacked the claim directly, by changing the bill that passed last month to explicitly clarify that no church would be forced to marry anyone

Senate Approves Same-Sex Marriage Bill Amendment
Supporters, Opponents Rally On Same-Sex Marriage
POSTED: 10:34 am EDT June 3, 2009
UPDATED: 12:25 pm EDT June 3, 2009
CONCORD, N.H. -- ... The Senate on Wednesday approved a compromise that strengthened the language involving legal protections for religious institutions and related agencies. The vote was 14-10 along party lines. The amendment now goes to the House. While the measure is just an amendment, the fate of same-sex marriage in New Hampshire hangs in the balance. Two weeks ago, House members defeated the bill by a margin of two votes. The language in the amendment is crucial, as Gov. John Lynch has stated that he will veto the same-sex marriage bill if it does not include strengthened protections for religious institutions ... http://www.wmur.com/politics/19644417/detail.html

House to vote today on revised same-sex marriage plan
By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
... By a vote of 14-10 the Senate passed an amended bill, the third piece of what has become a gay marriage package. The bill, HB 73 (text), is 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 makes more clear the rights of religious organizations and their employees to refuse to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies or celebrations. The bill now heads to the House, where votes have been close throughout the year ... http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=House+to+vote+today+on+revised+same-sex+marriage+plan&articleId=ac4816e1-7ac9-4694-b89c-b6174c8b6a87

Earlier DU threads:

N.H. lawmakers reject gay-marriage bill
Wed May-20-09 08:19 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3886119

Governor will sign gay marriage bill in NH if changes are made
Thu May-14-09 07:42 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3877490

[Renew Deal]

1. Don't religious institutions already "discriminate" who they wed?

I guess this prevents a lawsuit. :shrug:

[KamaAina]

2. Yes, they do. Notably, the Catholic Church will not marry divorcees.

(unless they got an annulment, that is).

Obviously, that is no reason why someone who has been divorced should not be eligible for a civil marriage license. Similarly, with same-sex marriage, the attitudes of certain churches towards it should not be a barrier.

[struggle4progress]

4. Like Phyllis Schlafly's claim in the 1970s that the ERA would create public unisex bathrooms,

the claim "Allowing gay marriage will force your church to marry gay people" is not intended as a rational argument but as a political strategy: it stirs up anxiety and resentment among the ignorant, provides opponents of the proposed law a short slogan that can be shouted emotionally and that is guaranteed to be repeated again and again by lazy newscasters, and educated proponents of the law are likely to disregard it because it is obviously nonsense. In NH, proponents of the bill seem to have been smart enough to tackle the nonsense directly: of course, there would be no compelling legal reason to address such silly nonsense in the law, but the nonsense can be politically neutralized by harmlessly amending the proposed law

[tomm2thumbs]

3. why doesn't being gay officially become 'a religion' and you'd have all the protections needed

it would be anti-american to not let 'a religion' practice the rites their 'religion' practices - marriage and the like

according to right wingnuts, being gay is a choice, and so is religion.

2 for 1

[Matariki]

5. Religious rights only apply to Christianity in many people's minds.

Unfortunately. Just ask a Satanist.