Same-sex marriage equality is under extreme attack in New Hampshire, just 20 months after becoming legal. Tomorrow, Tuesday, New Hampshire’s House Judiciary Committee will take up a bill that would kill same-sex marriage in New Hampshire, reports Jeremy Hooper at Good As You, who attributes the push to kill equality to “New Hampshire’s Cornerstone Policy Research — an organization that pushes “ex-gay” therapy as its one and only homosexuality resource.” The bill would have to pass through the committee but “The full House will not vote on the bill until next year,” Igor Volsky at Think Progress notes.
The bill’s text actually notes that killing same-sex marriage in New Hampshire will cost the state $50,500 next year and will reduce revenue to state and local governments every year after that.
Additionally, the bill automatically makes orphans and children whose parents have died or divorced second-class citizens unworthy of the state’s protections (see image above.) It also falls into NOM’s, the National Organization For Marriage’s claptrap assumption that there are loving two-person heterosexual homes available for every child born into this world.
HB 437 as currently written, “prohibits same sex marriages.” It is sponsored by:Â Rep. Bates, Rock 4; Rep. Kappler, Rock 2; Rep. Cebrowski, Hills 18; Rep. Sorg, Graf 3; Rep. Ulery, Hills 27; Rep. C. Vita, Straf 3; Rep. Silva, Hills 26; Rep. T. Smith, Merr 9; Rep. Gionet, Graf 3; Rep. Balboni, Hills 21; Sen. Groen, Dist 6; Sen. White, Dist 9.
The bill relays on the unconstitutional definition of marriage that proposes marriage is for the purpose of procreation:
The legislature finds and declares that:
I. Marriage is not a creature of statute but rather a social institution which predates organized government. As the United States Supreme Court has noted, marriage has roots that are “older than the Bill of Rights – older than our political parties, older than our school system.†Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 486 (1965).
II. As many scholars and experts have noted, marriage, understood as the legal union of a man and a woman, serves and supports important social goods in which the government of New Hampshire has a compelling interest.
III. The vast majority of children are conceived by acts of passion between men and women – sometimes unintentionally. Because of this biological reality, New Hampshire has a unique, distinct, and compelling interest in promoting stable and committed marital unions between opposite-sex couples so as to increase the likelihood that children will be born to and raised by both of their natural parents. No other domestic relationship presents the same level of state interest.
IV. A child has a natural human right to the love, care and support of his or her own mother and father, whenever possible. Marriage is the primary social institution that promotes that ideal and encourages its achievement.
Volsky also notes,
“Polling shows that the move is unpopular among state residents, however. A WMUR Granite State Poll from October 14 found that voters want to keep marriage equality by a two to one margin. Just 8 percent said that the law had “a major effect on the state,†while 28 percent saw a “minor effect†and 47 percent saw no effect at all. Only 27 percent of New Hampshire adults said they support repealing same-sex marriage, while 50 percent strongly oppose repeal.”
But Hooper’s post at Good As You includes a copy of an email being sent throughout New Hampshire. Head over there to take a look. And act, especially if you’re a New Hampshire resident. And forward this to anyone you know who is.