CONCORD (AP) — A House committee that deadlocked a year ago over legalizing gay marriage voted yesterday against repealing New Hampshire's 5-week-old law allowing the unions.
The Judiciary Committee also voted to recommend that the House kill a proposed constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The vote was 12-8 on both measures, largely along party lines, led by Democratic opposition.
Last year, the committee couldn't agree on a recommendation and brought a bill to the House floor to legalize the unions without one. Some supporters felt at the time that it was too soon to allow gay marriage since the state's civil unions law was only a year old. But after a series of votes, the House narrowly passed the bill that became law.
Gay marriage opponents know their chance of success on such measures in New Hampshire is slim. But they want to keep the issue before voters in hopes that Republicans will regain control of the Statehouse from Democrats in November and succeed then in banning gay marriage.
New Hampshire became the fifth state to legalize gay marriage on Jan. 1, joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. California briefly allowed gay marriage before a popular vote in 2008 banned the practice; a court ruling grandfathered in couples who were already married. Last year, Maine lawmakers approved gay marriage, but voters in a referendum overturned the law before it went into effect.
New Hampshire's House Judiciary Committee members who support gay marriage argued that gay couples had married without any detrimental effects to society.
"This bill is flawed, unjust and takes rights away," Rep. Robert Thompson, D-Manchester, said of the attempt to repeal the law.
Rep. Nancy Elliott, R-Merrimack, countered that New Hampshire made a mistake.
Rep. William O'Brien, a Mont Vernon Republican, said allowing gays to marry weakened an institution meant to nurture children.
"We've weakened it incrementally," he said. "Do we expect the sky to fall? No."
Rep. Lucy Weber, D-Walpole, replied that families take many forms. She said she could not see how a gay marriage weakened a heterosexual one.
Weber also pointed out that the bill repealed gay marriage without replacing it with the civil unions law that some gay marriage opponents have said would be an acceptable alternative.
"The central fact of a family is the relationship, not the gender of the people involved," Concord Democrat Frances Potter said.
Supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment said voters — not 424 legislators — should decide the issue. Amendment opponents said minority rights should not be subjected to a popular vote.
Kevin Smith, executive director of the conservative Cornerstone Policy Research, said he was disappointed by the outcome — particularly on the proposed constitutional amendment. But he said he was confident gay marriage supporters put their seats in jeopardy with voters by their position on the issue.
Mo Baxley, executive director of the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition, said the constitution shouldn't be amended to enshrine discrimination.
The House could act on the recommendations next week.
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