Now that the legislature will be working over the next 10 days to come up with consensus language on the marriage bill, it is time to make sure every legislator hears from supporters of marriage.
What is clear from the three votes on marriage today in the House is that the New Hampshire way of passing legislation in the largest chamber in our country (400 House members) is to respect everyone and work to achieve consensus.
The road to marriage equality has been traveled fast here and today’s version that passed the Senate (14-10) just failed 186-188 in the House. When opponents of equality forced a vote to kill the bill for this year, it was soundly defeated 173-202. So, this legislature wants to find a way to pass a marriage bill this year that will be signed by the governor.
Now, with a vote of 207 to 168 to form a conference committee, the family conversation about marriage will take place. On June 3rd or a bit later there should be consensus on a bill that will pass and be signed into law. Tonight I will celebrate with Mo Baxley of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry and Ray Buckley and others on how far we have come and how close we are to victory.
With some more hard work and personal conversations we look forward to the next few weeks.
The Human Rights Campaign's perspective on the news, issues and events affecting the every day lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the country.
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