Attempt To Repeal New Hampshire Same Sex Marriage Law Delayed At Least Until 2012

The Associated Press reports that New Hampshire lawmakers will not be voting until 2012 on bills to repeal the state's law allowing same sex marriage. The House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Thursday to hold onto two bills that would repeal the law, which has been in effect a little over a year. The action means the bills instead will come up for a vote early in next year's session, since legislative rules do not allow committees to dispose of bills. An estimated 600 people had signed up to testify at a hearing on the issue last month, with most opposed to repeal, many urging the committee to put the issue to rest this session, but the committee voted without debate to hold onto the bills. Lew Feldstein, co-chairman of Standing Up for New Hampshire Families, which opposes repeal, said the group is disappointed the committee did not support killing the bills this year, and released a statement that read in part "Lawmakers just kicked the can down the road, only to come back again next year to take up marriage, yet again." Democratic Governor John Lynch, who signed the law, has continual said he will veto bills to repeal it. The Democrat-controlled Legislature adopted civil unions in 2007 and replaced that law with gay marriage two years later. Conservatives are hoping for enough votes in the Legislature to repeal gay marriage and overturn a veto now that Republicans have gained supermajorities in the House and Senate in November. The National Organization for Marriage and another opposition group, Cornerstone Action, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on television ads in an effort to defeat Lynch in the 2010 governor's race and elect lawmakers who would support repeal. "While we would have preferred the Legislature to take up these bills this year, we look forward to working with House leadership and the new majority over the coming months to see that the state's traditional marriage definition is restored next year," Kevin Smith, director of the conservative Cornerstone Action, said of Thursday's committee action. Mo Baxley, the executive director of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry, said that as people live with the law they realize it has no impact on their lives. "They understand that gay and lesbian couples share the same values of other couples, like love, commitment and family," she said. House Republican Leader D.J. Bettencourt had urged the committee to postpone floor action on the bills so the House could focus on fiscal issues. The sponsors of the bills were reluctant to transgress leadership. The committee recommended killing a third bill that would have replaced marriage for heterosexual and same sex couples with domestic unions.