NOM BLOG

WSJ Law Blog: New Hampshire GOP Looks To Roll Back Same-Sex Marriage Law

 

Sam Favate at the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog:

There’s been a flurry of activity on same-sex marriage lately, with Washington becoming the seventh state permitting it, the New Jersey legislature approving it despite a veto threat from the governor, the Ninth Circuit ruling the California same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, and Maryland poised this week to be the eighth state to make it legal.

Now, some lawmakers in New Hampshire want to be the first in the nation to go the other way. A bill to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law appears to have a chance at passing both houses of the state legislature, the New York Times reported. Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, has promised to veto such a bill, but Republicans have veto-proof majorities in the New Hampshire House and Senate. If the repeal overcame a veto, it would mark the first time a legislature overturned a same-sex marriage law.

The bill, which can be seen here, would define marriage as “the legally recognized union of one man and one woman.”

... A vote in the N.H. House would have to happen by March 29, which is when legislation must be sent to the state Senate. Rep. David Bates, who introduced the bill last year after Republicans took control of the legislature, said the bill would be changed to make more members happy with it.

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