Gay Marriage, Set Back in One State, Gains in a 2nd - NYTimes.com

Gay Marriage, Set Back in One State, Gains in a 2nd - NYTimes.com

BOSTON — The New Hampshire House voted Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage, narrowly approving a bill that faces an uncertain future in the State Senate and, should it pass there, most likely a veto by Gov. John Lynch.

Gay Marriage in Vermont Faces Veto by Governor (March 26, 2009)

Only hours after the measure had failed by one vote, a handful of legislators reconsidered, allowing it to clear the Democratic-controlled House by 186 to 179.

The vote followed by a day an announcement by Gov. Jim Douglas of neighboring Vermont that he would veto a bill legalizing same-sex marriage if it reached his desk. The Vermont Senate approved the bill overwhelmingly last Friday, and the House is hearing testimony on it this week. Vermont was the first state to legalize civil unions of same-sex couples, in 2000, but same-sex marriage is now legal only in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

In New Hampshire, civil unions became legal last year, but support for same-sex marriage has been much harder to come by in a state with a strong conservative streak.

Sylvia B. Larsen, president of the New Hampshire Senate, which is also controlled by Democrats, would not speculate on what her chamber would do with the House-approved measure, particularly since lawmakers are focused on dealing with a two-year budget deficit of $500 million.

“Our main focus must remain on the state budget and on revitalizing our economy,” Ms. Larsen said in a statement. “I cannot say what the final position of the Senate will be” on the marriage bill.

Whatever the case, it appears that the governor, a third-term Democrat who supported the civil union bill, will not back this one.

“Governor Lynch has not supported same-sex marriage,” said Colin Manning, a spokesman for Mr. Lynch, “but the civil union bill he signed into law prevents discrimination and provides the same legal protection to all New Hampshire families to the extent that is possible under federal law.”

But Representative Edward A. Butler, a Democrat who co-sponsored the marriage bill, said: “Separate but equal is not equal. Even though civil unions provide all of the rights and responsibilities of marriage in New Hampshire, it still creates a separate class. It still creates a separate situation that is the legal recognition of our union. And it’s not enough. We need and want full equality, and we will have it.”

Representative Gene G. Chandler, a Republican who voted against the measure, said that while most New Hampshirites were accepting of civil unions, they did not support same-sex marriage.

“When it comes to something like civil unions, people are willing to turn the other shoulder,” Mr. Chandler said. But the bill “is a step further than what the majority of people in the state of New Hampshire want to see happen.”