Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Marriage Repeal in NH? (Updated)


Despite the fact that 60% of voters think this is a mistake, New Hampshire Republicans are going to try to repeal marriage equality in the granite state.  The governor has already promised a veto;  the question is whether they will have enough votes to overturn one.

WHY?  Why, if their constituents are opposed, do the NH Republicans continue to try this?  Why, given the slap-down to Prop8 (as repealing an existing right), do they try to do it?  Who is hearing the "dog whistle" to the right?  Is it just a sort of group-think insanity?

Politically, this is stupid.  Are they really that stupid?  Or filled with hate?

I just don't understand.

From the Concord MOnitor:
Gay couples, nearly 2,000 of them, have been holding weddings in New Hampshire for more than two years. If those marriages have caused any harm to kids, straight couples, schools, neighborhoods, businesses or anything else, there is no evidence of it. Bates and his supporters in the House have provided no coherent argument for their discriminatory legislation - except perhaps discrimination itself…. 
But there is no reason this must be a partisan issue. The Marriage Equality Act extended basic civil rights to a minority group. It improved the lives of hundreds of residents and did no harm to anyone else. It set New Hampshire on the right side of history, ahead of most other states in the union. It is a law that residents and legislators of all political persuasions can be proud of. Why in the world would we undo that?

update: Despite our fears that this would pass, the Republican-majority NH legislature DEFEATED this measure. The arc of history....

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