Posted on 12/18/2010 12:36:57 PM PST by tricksy
In the wake of the new Republican majority in the New Hampshire Legislature, some social conservatives want to turn back the clock on same-sex marriage. What a waste of time in a country and a state more rightly focused on righting our economic ship.
According to exit polls last month, voters overwhelmingly care about jobs and the economy, followed by taxes, terrorism and health care. Same-sex marriage is not even near the bottom of this list; it is at the bottom. It's hard to imagine that New Hampshire legislators would spend an ounce of time on a settled matter.
Nonetheless, the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage, the nation's leading anti-gay organization, is lobbying the State House to support repeal legislation in January. NOM's president has declared, after spending nearly $1 million in an unsuccessful push to defeat Gov. John Lynch, "We will now fight for a vote on a constitutional amendment and a repeal of same-sex marriage in New Hampshire."
This is the same D.C. lobbying group whose leadership is on record saying being gay is a "sexual disability" and should be a criminal offense. Yes, a crime.
Since Lynch, a centrist Democrat who initially opposed marriage equality, signed the bill into law, more than 1,000 committed gay and lesbian couples have been legally married.
And since that time? The sky has not fallen. Clocks have not stopped. Straight couples' marriages have not been threatened. In fact, same-sex marriage here has been a non-event.
One of those first couples to wed was Linda Murphy and Donna Swartwout, together for 19 years. At the time, Murphy said their marriage "was a reaffirmation of our love and our commitment, and a legal acknowledgment from our home state. Some day this will not even be a news story. It will just be a part of life."
That time has come. Marriages between committed same-sex couples no longer make the nightly newscast as some novelty or out-of-the-mainstream event. People in this state, and across the country, know that marriage is the only sure way to protect families. It is part of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
People are moving in the direction of basic equality, not away from it. More Catholics and political independents, says the Pew Research Center, approve of the freedom to marry than disapprove. Fifty-five percent of people in a University of New Hampshire survey support marriage equality.
What is also telling about the mood here is that after Lynch signed the marriage bill into law, NOM tried to launch a grassroots repeal of it. According to Granite State Progress, 80 towns rejected NOM's local ballot initiative, and 37 percent of New Hampshire towns didn't even consider the petition. To us, that says let's move on already.
Bravo to Republican Senate President Peter Bragdon, who knows voters don't really care about same-sex marriage. He said right after the election, "The economy, jobs and taxes. That will be our focus. I doubt there will be any marriage legislation introduced into the Senate."
There is always the slim possibility, however, that some will make this an issue. So brace yourself for the hollering coming from a tiny but vocal group claiming the gay couple in Cornish is somehow a danger to the Smith family down the street. Let's remember that the fear spread around last time around didn't ever pan out.
I am not a libertarian. I am a conservative; so quit assuming you know who I am. So far you are batting a 1000 on the losing end.
Well, you’re doing a really good imitation of one.
Actual conservatives understand the moral basis for our laws.
Only in your mind.
Well, it may be on the bottom of the list, understandibly playing second fiddle to economic issues, but it has profound implications for the country's economic future. Unfortunately, few people understand it why. More people need to read this brilliant article:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722155
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