Gay bishop says faith groups key to NH gay marriage vote
New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage on Wednesday (June 3) in part because faith leaders testified that the measure would not impinge on religious rights, according to V. Gene Robinson, the state’s openly gay Episcopal bishop.
When credible Christians, Muslims and Jews advocated for same-sex marriage, it “had a lot of sway with legislators in terms of giving them cover,” said Robinson. “Our message was loud and clear: religious organizations have nothing to fear from civil marriage for same-gendered folks.”
Robinson, who was elected bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, joined his longtime partner in a civil union last year. Under the New Hampshire law, their union will automatically be considered a marriage on Jan. 1, 2010.
“I’m still about 30 feet off the ground, hovering somewhere on high,” Robinson said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday.
The legislation signed by Gov. John Lynch on Wednesday contains explicit legal protections for religious groups that object to same-gender relationships and makes Rhode Island the only state in New England that does not allow gay marriage.
Robinson said separating the civil and religious aspects of marriage and making clear that religious groups would not be required to sanction same-gender weddings was key to the effort.
“We made sure that our … bill here stated and overstated and restated the fact that no religious liberties would be abridged in the embrace of civil marriage — that no religious institutions would be required to do anything against its own beliefs,” Robinson said. “It largely undercut the argument from the other side.”
Two separate studies released on Wednesday concluded that anti-gay marriage groups relied heavily on religious language to successfully push for ballot initiatives in Michigan in 2004 and California in 2008 that outlawed gay marriage.
“A religious opposition requires a religious response,” said the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and an author of one of the reports.
Robinson said, “I think it’s about emboldening legislators to see people like them who identify as Roman Catholic or American Baptist or Methodist or Lutheran (and) say `OK, this … is clearly a person of faith, so despite what the denomination says as a whole I’ve got a fairly firm piece of ground to stand on here.”
See Gay bishop says faith groups key to NH gay marriage vote
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Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom Win in Key Statehouse Vote In New Hampshire
Committee of Conference votes to advance HB73
CONCORD Today the house and senate committee of conference in the New Hampshire legislature voted in favor of a compromise bill that will advance the freedom to marry while ensuring religious liberties.
HB73 is a bill that will uphold the Constitutional right to freedom of religion, while complimenting previously passed bills that grant marriage equality to same-sex couples. Today’s committee of conference decision treats gay and lesbian people as well as people of faith with dignity and respect. The conference committee report on HB73 is expected to be voted on by the full legislature on June 3rd.
“We remain confident that marriage equality will become law this year, and HB 73 is an important final step in that effort,” said Mo Baxley the Executive Director of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry. “Individual equality and religious freedom are New Hampshire values. We expect the House and Senate to now vote for HB 73 as reported out by the committee of conference. This is a very positive step and we remain optimistic that we will see legal protections for thousands of gay and lesbian couples signed into law by the Governor.”
The freedom to marry for gay couples, partnered with religious protections in HB73 is supported by Governor Lynch, the State Senate, the committee of conference, and the majority of New Hampshire residents.
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The New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition was founded in January 2001 and is New Hampshire’s Statewide LGBT education and advocacy organization. http://nhftm.org/
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/marriage-equa…
Gay Marriage Bill Stalls In New Hampshire
The New Hampshire House of Representatives, by a 188-186 vote, put the brakes on gay marriage, voting down legislation that would have permitted gay couples to marry while protecting the religious liberties of clergy.
The state’s governor, threatening a veto if the gay marriage legislation did not contain such protections, urged lawmakers to add an amendment to the legislation. The state’s Senate approved of the language, but the House rejected it.
The House, however, voted 207-168 to ask the Senate to negotiate a compromise.
At this point, lawmakers will meet to hash out some of the differences in the bill. A vote on the “compromise” bill could come as early as June 3.
“I think the headline is the House pushes the pause button, which is something very different than a reverse button,” openly gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson told New Hampshire television station WMUR.
Supporters of gay marriage argued the vote, while a setback, is not the end of the road for gay marriage in New Hampshire. They point to a strong 173-202 vote that rejected a measure that would kill the gay marriage bill.
Rather, New Hampshire lawmakers, particularly state Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, a gay Republican from Manchester, said Democrat Gov. John Lynch was bullying lawmakers into passing a new bill. Prior to Wednesday’s vote, the New Hampshire Legislature had passed a bill legalizing gay marriage. See
Philadelphia Bulletin
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/gay-marriage-…
Signing of gay marriage law changes the game at schools
The gay marriage bill signed into law by Gov. Jodi Rell on Thursday eliminates an 18-year-old provision that prevents schools from portraying homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, but legislators said the new measure is much to do about nothing.
State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-27, said the new bill does away with language that can be construed as demeaning to gays from a 1991 equal rights act and is not a demand for schools to promote homosexuality.
“It doesn’t require it to be taught and it doesn’t say it can’t be taught,” he said.
The bill– which legislators said is a compromise between gay marriage opponents and supporters– comes six months after the high court ruled 4-3 that same-sex couples have the right to wed in Connecticut, rather than accept a 2005 civil union law designed to give them the same rights as married couples.
“My position is that religious liberties, as a fundamental right and a First Amendment right, are so important that we need to address any concerns of any group,” said State Rep. Bruce Morris, D-140.
In an effort to appease some gay marriage foes, lawmakers amended the bill to show they want to protect religious liberties. For example, it says religious organizations and associations are not required to provide services, goods or facilities for same-sex wedding ceremonies.
Many groups feared that the bill would somehow force schools to teach about homosexuality in sex education courses and limit parental control over the matter.
Parents can already prevent their children from participating in a sexual education course, even if the course does not teach about homosexuality, McDonald said.
Connecticut’s education statutes allot parents the right to give their children written permission exempting them from “family life education programs,” courses which would likely include any lessons on homosexuality and gay marriage.
“Some of the religious organizations had an issue with the fact that a child wouldn’t have a choice but to sit and listen (to a lesson on homosexuality) in sex ed.,” said state Rep. Chris Perone, D-137. “The statute puts some of the control back into the parents hands.” See Signing of gay marriage law changes the game at schools
The Hour - Norwalk,CT,USA
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How Dumb IS THis? Church: Florists Should Be Allowed To Say No To Gay Weddings
So CT lawmakers are considering some changes to old state laws that were passed before the state supreme court made gay marriage legal. Unable to overturn that action, the “Connecticut Catholic Conference” are now embarrassing themselves with arguments like the one below. Like any of us would want to pay an anti-gay florist to do flowers for our wedding! DO these so-called Catholics realize how dumb they look?
Concerned that the state’s new same-sex marriage law would infringe on religious liberties, the Connecticut Catholic Conference today proposed some broad exemptions which it believes are necessary to protect those rights.
The law does not require Catholic priests — or any other clergy member — to preside over same-sex weddings.
However, the church is seeking additional exemptions. For instance, it wants to ensure that a florist opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds not be forced to sell flowers to a same-sex couple.
“Same-sex couples have their liberties protected fully. Religious people are wondering ‘how is this going to effect me?”‘ David Reynolds, lobbyist for the Catholic Church, told members of the legislature’s judiciary committee. Ee Church: Florists Should Be Allowed To Say No To Gay Weddings
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