Republican-Sponsored Bill To Repeal Same Sex Marriage In New Hampshire Would Use Same Statute To Ban Incest

From New Hampshire, the Concord Monitor reports on the text of bill repealing the state’s same sex marriage law that would employ the same statute to prohibit both incest and gay marriage, the bill, sponsored by Representative David Bates (Republican-Windham) intent on repealing both the New Hampshire law allowing civil unions and same sex marriage. The bill’s preamble states that “Marriage is not a creature of statute but rather a social institution which predates organized government,” and adds that marriage serves “important social goods” in which government has an interest. Bates’ bill continues that “The vast majority of children are conceived by acts of passion between men and women – sometimes unintentionally.” Therefore, the bill argues, the state has an interest in protecting the union of men and women to increase the likelihood that children will be born and raised by their natural parents. The bill lists marriages that would, as a consequence, be prohibited, including same sex, and marriage between children, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. The bill also states that any marriage recognized prior to the adoption of the law would remain valid, but any same sex marriage performed out-of-state after the law is passed – Massachusetts, for example – would be regarded as invalid. The New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition condemned Bates and the bill, releasing a statement that read in part “Rep. Bates has planted himself firmly, and proudly, on the fringes of American life. His need to divorce committed couples and to prevent other couples from getting married is strange. So much for family values.”