New Hampshire Republicans Defend Marriage Equality

The impressive feature of yesterday's victory for marriage equality was the extent of Republican support for defending marriage equality. The GOP has an overwhelming 3 to 1 majority in the State House, but the bill went down by almost 2 - 1. Among the 211 votes against, were about 100 Republicans (nearly half of the total), who defied their caucus leadership on the matter.  This is a valuable illustration of how even political conservatives are coming to see gay marriage as consonant with their values, and not in conflict with their religious beliefs.

“The people that are supporting repeal want their personal religious views to be the law of the land. I hate to say it, but that's really what it's coming down to,” Representative Tammy Simmons added. “It's great to have faith and it's great to have religion, but that should dictate your life, not how somebody else lives their life.”

This decision to stand with libertarian principles rather than traditionalist impulses represents victory in the effort to modernize the Republican Party and expand its appeal rather than courting a backlash by reinforcing some of its negative stereotypes.

In particular, some legislators were concerned that an ideological over-reach by social conservatives could alienate independent voters—who make up a plurality of registered voters in the Granite State—in the next election. “I am concerned about the message it could sends to Independent voters,” said Schroadter. “I'm a Republican for small government, low taxes, and pro-business initiatives. This [marriage equality] is just one of those issues that government should probably stay away from.”

Attitudes toward same-sex marriage have changed dramatically in the past few years alone, with 59% of independents now supporting it, compared to 49% in 2010, according to Gallup. Significantly, only 7% of New Hampshire Republicans voted for the Freedom to Marry in 2009.

“What's happening here in New Hampshire is the amazing new direction that the Republican Party is taking at the state level,” said Tyler Deaton, a spokesperson for New Hampshire Republicans for Freedom and Equality PAC. “We’ve got so many Republican state representatives that are opposed to this repeal effort. And it's like the Republican Party's getting back to its roots—values of individual freedom and liberty and equality. It’s been an exciting thing to see. I think that New Hampshire is going to be a model for the national Republican Party to see that it is okay for the Republicans to be inclusive of gays and lesbians and to be in favor of equal rights. It's a new step forward for the party.”

It is healthy and heartening to see libertarians stand up to social conservatives on matters of principle and conscience, aiming for a philosophic consistency that reconnects the Republican Party to its roots as a force for expanding individual freedom.

- The Daily Beast.

Ostrich of the week award goes to the sponsor of the bill, Bill Bates, who said he simply did not believe the polls that showed very limited voter support for repeal.

In a poll released in early February by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, 59 percent of respondents were either strongly or somewhat opposed to repealing the law, while 32 percent said they supported repeal. But Mr. Bates said he did not believe that the results truly reflected public opinion.

Mr. Bates said the repeal effort could return next year, adding, “I don’t think this is the end of it.”

Related articles

• AP: "NH House kills gay marriage repeal bill"
  
• Should Two Left-handed People Be Permitted to Marry?

• New Hampshire House Kills Marriage Equality Repeal Bill (thinkprogress.org)
  
• IRONY ALERT: Anti-Gay Group Complains About Out-Of-Staters 'Buying' Marriage Equality In New Hampshire (thinkprogress.org)
  
• My Kids See Marriage Equality as a Non-Issue (mlp.org)

NH Bill to Revoke Gay Marriage Will Harm GOP - State Rep

February has come to an end, and there's still no sign of the threatened bill to repeal marriage equality - a bill that was originally promised as a priority for the New Year, then was delayed until after the January primary, then put off until February, and then put off until....... when? and why?

With recent polls showing that only 27% of state voters favouring repeal, GOP Rep has a simple explanation: the bill will hurt the Republican party's electoral chances for November. In this libertarian leaning state, they're getting cold feet.

Mr. Bates said that if the repeal bill failed this year, he would not give up. Governor Lynch is leaving office at year’s end, and both Republicans who have entered the race to succeed him support repeal. 

State Rep Seth Cohen (GOP)

But Representative Seth Cohn, a libertarian Republican who opposes the repeal, said he thought it would in fact harm the Republicans’ chance of staying in power after 2012, whether or not it succeeds.

“They want this as an election issue,” he said of the Democrats. “I think it’s going to backlash against the Republicans who, in the face of the polls, are choosing not to believe the average person is O.K. with this situation.”

 - NYTimes.com.

Gay Marriage, New Hampshire: Not Going Away

When the GOP took control of the New Hampshire legislature last November, social conservatives were jubilant it would enable them to reverse the legal recognition now given to same-sex couples. It is unlikely that they will have their hopes realized.  Republican leadership deliberately stalled on the issue, putting it onto the back burner until next year. 

Research out last week, replicating the results of an earlier poll in February, shows why. By a two-to-one majority, New Hampshire voters do not want to repeal the existing marriage equality law. Not even Republican voters have a simple majority to support repeal.  With that level of public opposition, it is unlikely that if it ever came up for a vote in the legislature, the only possible result will be an embarrassing defeat. 

In New Hampshire, marriage equality is here to stay.

A WMUR Granite State Poll issued last week found 62 percent of New Hampshire adults oppose the law’s repeal, 29 percent support repeal and 10 percent don’t know what they think or have have no opinion. Almost as interesting is that 47 percent of the respondents said the two-year-old law has had no impact on the state and 38 percent said it’s had only a minor impact. Just a scant 8 percent said the law has had a major impact on the state.

Even if you count only Republicans, support for repeal of the law falls short of a majority – 45 percent.

These numbers are essentially identical to the ones registered when the same questions were asked of New Hampshire adults in February.

There can be no argument. A clear majority of New Hampshire citizens do not want the same-sex marriage law repealed, period. Whatever voters thought were the transgressions of Democrats when they stepped into the voting booth a year ago, same sex marriage wasn’t one of them."

-NashuaTelegraph

Related articles

• 50 Percent of New Hampshire Residents 'Strongly Oppose' Repealing Marriage Equality Law: Poll (towleroad.com)
• Part Of The Landscape I (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
• Nearly 2/3rds Of New Hampshirites Oppose Repealing Marriage Law (lezgetreal.com)