N.H. Legislative Panel Recommends Repeal of Marriage Equality Law

The New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee voted 11-6 on Tuesday, Oct. 25, to recommend repealing the state's marriage equality law.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in the Granite State since Jan. 2010. State Rep. David Bates (R-Windham)'s bill would ban same-sex marriages in New Hampshire, but the measure would allow unmarried adults to enter into a civil union. A University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll conducted between Sept. 26 and Oct. 2 found that 62 percent of voters oppose efforts to repeal the state's marriage equality law. Eighty-one percent of respondents said nuptials for gays and lesbians in New Hampshire have not impacted their life.

"It is astounding that Republican legislators would repeal New Hampshire's marriage equality law when not only do 60 percent of New Hampshire voters oppose the repeal, likely Republican presidential primary voters oppose repeal as well," New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley told Boy in Bushwick after the committee's vote. "The out of state radical agenda of Speaker Bill O'Brien has already made this legislature the most unpopular in New Hampshire history, playing games with thousands of families in New Hampshire is certainly not a popular path to take."