HALT: New Hampshire House Holds Up Gay Marriage
Gov. John Lynch instructed legislators to revise language in the same-sex marriage bills to insert more explicit language guaranteeing religious protections — and only then would he sign into law the bills both the State House and Senate passed. Except just today, while the Senate approved the changes, the House now wants to “negotiate.” Huh? AP: “A divided New Hampshire House has refused to go along with changes the governor demanded to make his state the sixth to allow gay marriage. Instead, it voted to further negotiate with the Senate. The Senate passed the changes 14-10 Wednesday, but the House failed to agree later in the day by a vote of 188-186. Opponents tried to kill the bill, but failed. The House then voted 207-168 to ask the Senate to negotiate a compromise.” Yes, that’s two votes short of passage. But don’t get too worried … yet. There will be another vote in the House next month, and some 25 members didn’t even vote this time.
My understanding is that the House voted against the added language, not the bill per se, because both the House AND the Senate passed it the first time around WITHOUT the Gov’s added language. They are making a statement to the Governor because he is bullying the legislature and pandering to the religious right.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t backfire.
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Come on NH, we’re waiting.