Last week the overwhelmingly Republican New Hampshire statehouse voted, well, overwhelmingly to preserve gay marriage. The bill under consideration would have made New Hampshire the first state to repeal gay marriage. Initially, gay activists only hoped to keep the vote under two-thirds of the House, so that Democratic Gov. John Lynch could torpedo it with a veto. But when it came up for a vote, it didn’t even capture a majority of the House’s 297 Republican representatives, elected in the conservative tsunami of 2010.

How can this be? We’re in the middle of a Republican presidential primary, normally a time for conservatives to beat their chests over social and culture-war issues. And the most recent Republican Party platform promises to amend the United States Constitution to prohibit any further gay nuptials.

Freedom to Marry, which led the campaign against the repeal bill, credits its success in part to inroads it has made nationally with Republicans. Freedom to Marry’s founder, Evan Wolfson, credits conservatives like Ted Olson — who led the challenge to Proposition 8 in California — and former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman with accelerating that trend.

Full Story from Salon.com

Click here for gay wedding resources in New Hampshire.

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New Hampshire lawmakers are scheduled to vote on March 21 on a measure that would repeal the state’s marriage equality law.

The expected vote in the New Hampshire House of Representatives will take place a little more than a week after state Rep. David Bates (R-Windham) said he will add an amendment to House Bill 437 that would ask voters in a non-binding referendum whether they support the reinstatement of the state’s civil unions law that took effect in 2007. Craig Stowell, chair of Standing Up for New Hampshire Families, described the proposal as a “desperate, last minute Hail Mary pass” to garner support for the measure.

A WMUR/University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll in early February found that 59 percent of state residents oppose HB 437. Forty-four percent of respondents who took part in a similar survey last October said they are more likely to vote against a candidate who supports the repeal of the state’s marriage equality law.

Full Story from Edge Boston

Click here for gay wedding resources in New Hampshire.

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