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My husband was a Republican, pretty much, until George Bush converted him. He still carries some baggage from those years, and tends to accuse me of "hating Republicans" for no reason other than that I am a Democrat. (I get this from other people, too, the idea that I am a Democrat because of some cause other than the fact that I dislike and fear what Republicans do these days, rather than being a Democrat BECAUSE I think the Republican Party is destroying what I learned was the American promise to us all.)
However, there are some advantages to living with someone who thinks this way.
Some up in my neck of the woods in the Upper Valley say Governor Lynch is not their favorite Democrat. They say he's not liberal enough. They complain he works across the aisle too much.
That's probably true for a lot of people here in Hanover, where Obama won 82% of the vote in 2008 and where Granny D beat Judd Gregg by almost 2:1 in 2004.
Yes, John Lynch works for consenus in Concord. Yes, Governor Lynch works for all the people of New Hampshire, not just the ones who want him to beat up Republicans.
But Governor Lynch has proven himself over and over again to us who believe in Democratic values that we need him to stay in the corner office. Lynch has been the strongest Democrat on the statewide ticket in the last two cycles and his victory in 2010 will be our victory.
Here are my top ten reasons for supporting Governor Lynch's re-election in 2010.
WTF? The Union Leader has a front page article (not available online) that the Londonderry councilors have agreed to allow a town meeting vote on the anti-marriage referendum.
The mob and the cost of a special election supersede established rules for placing petitions onto the town warrant:
"To spare taxpayers the cost of a special election, councilors voted unanimously last night to place state Rep. Al Baldasaro's petitioned referendum on gay marriage onto the town warrent - even though the Republican fell short in collecting the required number of valid signatures."
On Wednesday, Rep. Baldasaro (R-Londonderry), while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee stated "The state of New Hampshire is selling children to homosexuals for $10,000 each". Rep. Baldasaro is the primary sponsor of HB 1590 which would repeal the marriage equality law. He was testifying during the hearing on CACR28, the Constitutional Amendment which would bar gays and lesbians from marriage.
I've been attending hearings on LGBT issues for about 14 years now. I've heard some very disgusting, derogatory statements directed at gays and lesbians from various citizens during these hearings, but I don't know that a legislator has said something this reprehensible since the 1980's.
On Monday, Kelly Ayotte released a statement announcing that she had filed the appropriate paperwork to run for U.S. Senate but neglected to tell anyone why she's running. While it's clear she is interested in advancing her political career, it is very unclear why the people of New Hampshire should support her candidacy without knowing who she is or where she stands on the issues.
As Attorney General, Ayotte was a vocal supporter of President Obama's plan for economic recovery. Just last week, Ayotte publicly endorsed a program to solve cold case crimes which is funded by money from the federal Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In May, Ayotte also released this statement in support the Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
"in times of economic uncertainty and with the potential for increasing crime, we need to continue to support these programs."
Now that she is running for Senate, will she change her position and stand in the way of President Obama's economic recovery plan?
As Attorney General, Ayotte used her role to argue against a woman's right to choose and marriage equality. She took an assault on a woman's right to choose all the way to the Supreme Court and lost. Will Ayotte stand behind her anti-choice past now? Ayotte also filed a court brief to delay marriage equality in California. With polls showing that a majority of Granite Staters support marriage equality, will Ayotte favor equality now?
(Posted by Victoria Bonney, Communications Director at the New Hampshire Democratic Party)
Yesterday State Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley called on NHGOP Chairman John H. Sununu and Republican Legislators to support an amendment to the marriage equality bill which would protect religious freedom. But today John H. Sununu took to the airwaves and told WGIR AM listeners that the amendment to provide additional religious protections is "trivial."
"The amendment to the marriage equality bill goes a long way to protect religious freedom, but John Sununu has chosen politics over the rights of religious organizations and has even gone so far as to call their rights "trivial." Do Republican leaders really want to be on record opposing protections for churches and clergy?" said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley.
During the course of the debate surrounding marriage equality John H. Sununu referred to the legislation as "radical" while polls conducted at the same time made clear that 55 percent of all New Hampshire residents and one third of Granite State Republicans support marriage equality. Now after amendments to the bill were introduced which would go even farther to protect the views of religious groups, Chairman Sununu and Senate Republicans remain opposed and out of step with the people of New Hampshire.
(Posted by Victoria Bonney, Communications Director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party)
As some of you may have noticed (but most of you haven't) I have a web site TimothyHorrigan.com, which has Google AdSense ads on it. Basically, I give Google a few square inches of space which they auction off to advertisers and if someone clicks on the ads, I get a cut of the proceeds. Right now, many of the ads are incongruously urging Gov. Lynch to veto HB436.
Some actual information from the WhoIs database is shown below. The NOM is based at the same address as a conservative think tank known as the Witherspoon Institute, which sponsors seminars like "Natural Law and Economics."
My partner and I have been writing to Representatives urging them to support HB 436. To date we have heard back from only a few, not including any of our four Republican Representatives from our own district. Many responses are favorable or unremarkable, but we had to pass this one on:
If we are going to abandon the Christian morals this country was fondled on and is the bases for our laws were do we draw the line? Should two brother be able to get married?
Please tell me were that line is and what you will base that line on.
It was 1997 and the issue before the senate was legislation to end what had been legal discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation.
A moderate Republican colleague told me he supported the bill. His fear of not being re-elected kept him from voting for it; he lost re-election anyway.
It occurred to me that it is a mistake to refer to the marriage equality bill as the marriage equality bill. Actually, it should be the Equality Bill, because as everyone has been pointing out, the bill is about equality, not marriage. It really took reading a lot of the comments yesterday and today to drive that home to me.
So, to the politics - which is what I am much better at than policy. If I were going to discuss the politics of the Equality Bill with the Senators, here is what I would say:
As has been mentioned in previous BH postings, the NH Senate will be holding a public hearing on HB436 (marriage equality) on Wednesday April 15, at 9 A.M. in Representatives Hall in the State House.
I would like to thank many contributors of BH for supporting and leading the charge, in particular former State Chair Kathy Sullivan for her many supportive postings. I would also like to congratulate State Senate candidate Bud Martin for his comments in Foster's in favor of this bill. http://www.fosters.com/apps/pb...
Kevin Landrigan in today's Nashua Telegraph writes that "Same-sex marriage remains a toss-up, with all 10 Senate Republicans against it, half a dozen Senate Democrats for it and the other six or seven Democrats withholding even private judgment." http://www.nashuatelegraph.com...
NHDP Chair Raymond Buckley could tip the scales toward House Bill 436 by coming out strongly in favor of the bill now -- now is the time to fight for marriage equality. It's important for so many people, and we're almost there. As Party Chair Raymond has a strong voice that people will listen to. There are many things Raymond can do to support the bill: he could call John Lynch and tell him this is the thing to do now, talk with the State Senators -- we may have 15 Democrats in the Senate soon, and he can testify in favor of the bill at the Senate hearings. Kathy Sullivan made a difference in the House, and Raymond could make a difference in the Senate.
(Our friends at NH FTM have made sending emails to legislators as easy as pushing a button. Show your support for marriage equality - and take a stand against those horrifying radio ads. - promoted by susanthe)
The New Hampshire House will be voting on HB436 (marriage equality) and HB415 (anti-discrimination act for gender identity and expression) on Thursday March 26. The vote will be extremely close and we need your help. The opposition is flooding Representatives with calls and e-mails and it is having an impact. Please contact your Representative. It could make the difference between these bills passing or being defeated. Every vote counts!
Click here to Take Action http://eqfed.org/campaign/nhft...
As the Legislature considers the Civil Union bill, every member should be aware that there is a right of all marriages that no same-sex couple should have. No same-sex couple should be allowed to combine their genes to make genetically-related offspring together.
Because of the way the genes of males and females are methylated or imprinted so as to be complimentary, the only way to join genes that are imprinted as the same sex is to alter the methylation or imprinting and seeing what happens. In mice, this process took 450 tries to get one mouse to live to adulthood. It is ridiculously risky and unnecessary, and unethical even in animals, since it cures no diseases. People should only have a right to combine their genes with someone of the other sex.
A rather historic vote was taken Thursday in Concord. For the first time, a committee of the New Hampshire State Legislature endorsed a civil unions bill, which would allow same-gendered couples to have all of the same "rights, obligations, and responsibilities" currently given to differently-gendered couples.
The House Judiciary Committee voted in a very bipartisan 15-5 vote to approve House Bill 437. Some real stars on the Committee speaking for the bill included Chair David Cote of Nashua, Gail Morrison of Sanbornton, and Bette Lasky of Nashua.
If it passes on the House floor this coming week and is approved by the State Senate, it would be historic in another way: this would be the very first time that a state has adopted legal unions for same-gendered couples without any threat of court action first. New Hampshire would join Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey as the only states with civil unions. California has a fairly extensive domestic relationships law, but comes short of formal unions for same-gendered couples. Massachusetts allows marriage for its gay and lesbian citizens, but that was court mandated and hasn't been vetoed by their legislature.
Our action in favor of equality contrasts positively to the 27 states where constitutional amendments have been adopted prohibiting same-gendered relationships. New Hampshire is also one of just 20 states protecting sexual orientation as part of our civil rights law; in some 30 states one can still be fired, or denied housing or services, just because of being gay.
It's not finalized yet, of course. The State Senate would have to vote favorably if the House approves the bill. And we can expect a tough floor fight in the House.
And Governor John Lynch hasn't said he will allow civil unions to become law, with or without his signature. I'm confident he will, however, because from my knowing him since the early 1970s, I've always found him to be an inherently fair person. While he has stated he would veto gay marriage, he has indicated he will consider something else, and that he is opposed to discrimination against our tens of thousands of gay and lesbian citizens. Now he can deliver.
Civil unions isn't marriage, with the word. While it provides all the same rights, obligations, and responsibilities of marriage, it isn't marriage. That fight has to continue, and I'll be joining others on that effort. Another bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee that would create a serious study and analysis about marriage for gays and lesbians.
Progress on equality, however, occurs step by step. We've come so far because of the hard work and sacrifices of so many so far. Civil unions is a positive step. If one has a 20 foot pond to jump over, it sure helps if there's a stepping stone in the middle.
HB 437 is sponsored by Somersworth State Representative Dana Hilliard and myself, but working hard for its passage have been most of the openly gay members of the House: Marlene DeChane of Barrington, Ed Butler of Harts Location, David Pierce of Etna, as well as Gail Morrison. Most were at the all-day hearing on the bill a couple of weeks ago, and the 6 hour Committee voting session, joined by former State Representative Ray Buckley. Former State Senator Rick Trombly has worked hard on this and other equality issues as well.
