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Apparently most voters in New Jersey agree with Governor Christie that a referendum on marriage equality is preferably to a legislative decision. It sounds more democratic when you say, "Let the people decide." Christie, himself, has argued that the Civil Rights Movement in our history would have preferred a referendum to legislation. That, of course, is ridiculous.
A referendum enshrines current feelings and attitudes about issues; it does not change them. Some of the finest research in the field of psychology was done in the 1950s on attitude change and it was discovered that, in fact, attitude change FOLLOWS behavior. This has become on of the most firmly established theories in the field of psychology!
This finding is not intuitive. It means that once we behave in a certain way, we are more likely to put stock in that behavior and "agree with it." This research is also the basis for the theory of cognitive dissonance, which we understand to be discomfort at behaving in ways DISsonant to our beliefs. In other words, if we behave one way while believing something else, our mind will try to create congruence or reduce dissonance.
This theory flies in the face of conventional wisdom which prevails even today, that "You can't legislate morality." This research on cognitive dissonance proves that, indeed, you can legislate morality and that if you want to truly change attitudes, you have to first change people's behavior, not the other way around.
Civil Rights legislation forced people to change their behavior and integrate society. As a result, attitudes have changed (to a large degree -not sure ideologues ever change their "beliefs") So Governor Christie is wrong that the preferred path to social change is through a referendum. If he were seriously behind marriage equality, he would sign the bill and allow gays and lesbians to marry in New Jersey. Hopefully the voters of New Jersey will express their support without him or the need for legislation.
The latest WMUR Granite State Poll surveyed Granite State adults on several high profile issues being debated in the legislature. The results show an electorate at odds with two of the key initiatives being promoted by the House Republican leadership.
Opposition to repeal of same-sex marriage is overwhelming
New Hampshire adults oppose repeal of same-sex marriage by a 59 percent to 32 percent margin. Among those who feel strongly about the issue, opponents of repeal outnumber supporters by a 2-to-1 margin with 48 percent strongly opposing repeal compared to just 23 percent who strongly support it. These figures have remained remarkably constant over the past year in earlier surveys from WMUR and Voter Consumer Research.
Support for a constitutional amendment to prohibit a state income tax is far short of the required two-thirds majority
New Hampshire voters are evenly divided on a a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit a state tax on income. 39 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for the amendment, 41 percent would oppose it. The House-passed amendment requires Senate approval before being presented to the voters. A two-thirds majority vote would then be required to amend the state constitution.
Granite Staters support voter photo ID legislation
One Republican issue that does appear to have broad support is requiring voters to present photo identification in order to vote. 68 percent expressed support for a voter ID law compared to 24 percent who oppose it. The support crosses partisan lines with majorities among Republicans (87 to 10 percent), Independents (69 to 22 percent) and Democrats (52 to 37 percent ).
The Granite State Poll is sponsored by WMUR-TV and conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. 527 New Hampshire adults were interviewed between January 25 and February 2, 2012 for the survey, which has a +/- 4.3 percent margin of error.
We just received a robocall from 603-632-0000. The prerecorded message said that it was Representative David Bates inviting us to attend a rally at the State House at noon on Tuesday to support a "return to traditional marriage." The call then entered a push-polling sequence, asking whether we supported traditional marriage, etc.
We are on the Do Not Call list. I will be lodging complaints with the appropriate authorities.
It has not escaped my or probably anyone else's notice that Republicans are very good at accusing other people of doing what they themselves do. Why just the other day during the debate on redistricting, Rep. David Bates (R-Windham), chair of the Election Law Committee and Vice Chair of the Special Committee on Redistricting, lambasted the Democratic redistricting plan by saying it was created by America Votes, an out of state organization run out of Washington, DC. Never mind that this plan is the one that most closely follows both the US and NH Constitutions.
David Bates was the behind the epic fail of the town meeting warrant items to end marriage equality. And who supported that initiative as well as the campaigns of R state reps?
This is such a perfect combination of New Hampshire Primary presidential politics and local issues and stupid stereotypes and phony candidates, I could cry tears of joy. Meet Granite Stater and Vietnam vet Bob Garon:
Romney told Garon, who was chowing down on his everyday staple of scrambled eggs and shaved ham at the restaurant Chez Vachon, that he supports a repeal of the same-sex marriage law, prompting an emotional exchange.
..."It's good to know how you feel, that you do not believe everyone is entitled to their constitutional rights," the 63-year-old New Hampshire resident responded.
And this is just brilliant:
Afterward, Mr. Garon, who legally married another man in June, said Mr. Romney was not getting his vote.
"He told me that I'm not entitled to Constitutional rights," he said. "I think a man and a woman and a man and a man should be treated equal."
..."He is not going to make it," he said. "Because you can't trust him. I just saw it in his eyes. I judge a man by his eyes."
So, does he agree with Mr. Romney on any issue?
"I kind of liked his health care plan in Massachusetts," Mr. Garon said.
Get this man to Concord for the repeal bills!
Video here.
UPDATE: Just gets better and better:
Reporters asked Garon to explain why he had questioned Romney so intently.
"Because I'm gay, all right?" Garon said. "And I happen to love a man just like you probably love your wife. Alright? And I think that he or she or whatever are entitled to the same rights that I have. I fought for my country, I did my thing, and I think that my spouse should be entitled to the same entitlements as if I was married to a woman. What the hell is the difference?"
In one fell swoop Romney committed a huge fail while simultaneously hurting the marriage repeal effort here in NH. The more regular folks in NH who hear about this exchange, the better the chances that patriotic Granite Staters like Garon can keep their rights.
This could be the most remembered moment of the primary.
Kevin "my group pushes 'ex-gay' therapy" Smith joins NOM
by Jeremy Hooper
Kevin Smith, former head of New Hampshire's Cornerstone Policy Research is seeking the GOP nomination for Governor. But in the meantime? He has become an official National Organization For Marriage lobbyist:
BREAKING: New Hampshire GOP Candidate Registers as Lobbyist for NOM [NOM Exposed]
Kind of an odd path to Concord's top office. I mean here in this plagued state of affairs, residents of the Live Free or Die State are expected to select a Governor who thinks repealing a benign matter of civil fairness is the key way to spend one's time? Really?
Mr. Smith goes to where? Washington? Where is NOM's headquarters?
It should also be noted that Smith is on record calling not only for a repeal of marriage, but also the state's civil unions law. Lest you had any questions about the true NOM goal, which always -- ALWAYS! -- guns for all rights afforded to same-sex couples, not just marriage.
What is that makes these bigots think they can force their will upon the rest of us? Michele Bachmann comes out with: "Gays can marry, as long it's someone of the opposite sex." I guess she'd know!!
Today he present his case in the Concord Monitor, saying, "I believe in God, liberty and my gay son."
It's a short, concise and heartfelt plea from a proud Father to the better nature of Christians and legislators.
Excerpt:
"I am offended every time I hear someone speak against the families of those with gay children. My family has strong religious beliefs and is as strong and sound as any others. Members of my political party and others know me to be a conservative who believes in God, liberty and family values. What most of you do not know is that I have a gay son.
When I found out he was gay 19 years ago when he was 15, I struggled and asked God to help me. I asked, Why me?
God's plan was to make me a more tolerant person and a more understanding human being.
If you knew your child was gay would you disown him or her? If you have a strong, loving family, you would accept your child for who he or she is: your child.
I ask those who represent us in the Legislature to think about this when they are ready to vote for the bill repealing same-sex marriage. One out of every three teenage suicides is related to being gay and the discrimination that they face every day. They come from sound, strong and (in many cases) Christian families with the same values as your families. They are here legally, have jobs, pay taxes and, yes, even serve in our military and have made the ultimate sacrifice as soldiers by dying for freedom and liberty."
It is neither the place of good Christians nor good politicians to sever ties that bind loving families.
(Thank you for the detailed write-up! - promoted by William Tucker)
As you know, the NH House Judiciary Committee just voted 11-6 in favor of repealing marriage equality. Of course, the amendment to HB 437 adopted by the Committee is not, as far as I know, available online yet, and I am a lousy typist. So here are just a few of the coming attractions from the Worse Than Civil Unions Bill. (And thanks to Dean Barker for the extremely apt handle.)
Of course, the worst part of the bill is that it repeals marriage equality, and actually takes rights from NH citizens. But there is so much more in the bill to hate. And maybe even some to...well...laugh at.
Aside from the repeal itself, here is the language I find the most offensive.
Children can only be conceived naturally through copulation by heterosexual couples. Because of this biological reality, New Hampshire has a unique, distinct, and compelling interest in promoting stable and committed marital unions between opposite-sex couples so as to increase the likelihood that children will be born to and raised by both of their natural parents. No other domestic relationship presents the same level of state interest.(Emphasis added.)
So not only will this bill marginalize our lesbian and gay families, but also families with single parents, childless couples, infertile couples, adoptive parents, foster parents, and loving stepparents. If your family does not look like their narrow picture of what a family is, watch out. My hope for every child is to be welcomed into a stable and loving family. I also know that every one of us knows at least one set of biological parents who should not be entrusted with the care of a gerbil, let alone a child. Biological parenthood does not, of itself, guarantee good parenting or a stable home, no matter how much we change a statute to favor it.
And c'mon, folks, do we really need to use the word "copulation" in the statutes as a purpose for marriage? Really?
Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, the New Hampshire National Guard soldier who recently returned from deployment in Kuwait, will be bringing her same-sex partner of 11 years to a yellow ribbon family reintegration event in North Conway this weekend.
Federal military regulations had previously banned same-sex spouses of National Guard Members from participating in official National Guard family events. The rules were based on an interpretation of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the extension of military benefits to same sex couples. Tuesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta urging the Department of Defense "in the strongest terms" to end the discriminatory policy.
“We made the decision as a nation that it was time to allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly in our military,” Shaheen said. “It makes no sense to ask them for the same sacrifice we ask of straight soldiers while denying them the same benefits. We are better than this.”
Yesterday, the Department of Defense ruled that Chief Morgan may take advantage of a regulation that allows service members to designate any one person, regardless of relationship, to join her at a yellow ribbon event.
“This is terrific news for Charlie Morgan and her family,” said Shaheen. “But this is just one small part of a much larger problem. We have a fundamental inequity in our policy, which has created two classes of soldiers. It isn’t fair and it has to end.”
“Ultimately, this conflict in our military policy is not sustainable,” Shaheen said. “We cannot ask the members of our military to live under different standards depending on whether they are gay or straight. I urge the military to do all it can under the law to promote equality in their regulations, and I urge Congress to join me in the fight to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.”
(The phony libertarians will be heartbroken... - promoted by elwood)
WMUR is reporting that their latest poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center shows an overwhelming majority of granite staters support marriage equality and do not want to see it repealed.
"Strong opponents of repealing same-sex marriage continue to outnumber strong proponents by more than 2 to 1," said Andrew Smith, director of the UNH Survey Center. "The New Hampshire public is not showing any strong desire to repeal this law."
Supporters of repealing the same-sex marriage law were asked whether they were more or less likely to support a House or Senate candidate who opposed repeal, and opponents were asked if they were more or less likely to support
candidates who supported repeal. The survey found that same-sex marriage was a much more important issue for those who oppose repealing the law.
Just 9 percent of Republicans and 11 percent of conservatives said they thought it had a major effect on the state.
As if to confirm jpmassar'swarning that the "next battle for marriage equality will be fought in New Hampshire," Maggie Gallagher has explicitly targeted the Granite State:
In recent media appearances, National Organization for Marriage (NOM) board chair Maggie Gallagher has countered the suggestion that NOM might not be able to reverse the recent legalization of gay marriage in New York with two words: New Hampshire.
As Gallagher told the National Review Online last month, “NOM’s next immediate challenge is to get a vote reversing gay marriage in New Hampshire — to show once again, as we did in Maine, that history is not unidirectional.”
“New Hampshire is gonna vote to reverse gay marriage in January, I would predict,” Gallagher said.
We also need every Democrat we can encourage to vote for marriage equality in January, 2012. We need to contact Democrats — as well as Republicans — who are in the House and tell them our stories. Neighbor-to-neighbor, we can win.
We won gay marriage by showing our faces and telling our stories. That's how we'll keep it.
The next battle for marriage equality will not take place in Minnesota and Maine in November of 2012 via ballot initiative, nor even in the Maryland legislature in the Spring of 2012. Rather, it will take place in the New Hampshire Legislature some time this coming winter, quite possibly at the same time the frenzy that is the New Hampshire Republican primary is ongoing.
According to the New York Times:
Another battle is expected in New Hampshire, one of the states that has adopted same-sex marriage. Pressure is mounting for the Legislature to take another historic step by reversing course.
In a fight expected to begin in January, conservatives think they have a good chance of victory in the Legislature, but they are not sure if they can muster enough votes to override an expected veto by the Democratic governor, John Lynch. In reference to the override:
"The votes will be very close," said Kevin H. Smith, the executive director of Cornerstone Action, a conservative group there.
Fuming with rage over the veto of the bill requiring teenage girls to place themselves in danger, Cornerstone Action's Kevin Smith called Governor Lynch the "most extreme liberal Governor" in NH history and went on to say, "His radical positions on social issues are enough to make even Nancy Pelosi blush."
Silly mainstream Democrats who've sometimes seen him as too cautious and a trifle conservative.
James Pindell has an interesting analysis up on the vote to retain the anti-marriage bills.
I personally believe this move, obviously orchestrated by Bill O'Brien, is essentially a trade-off.
By waiting a year O'Brien meaningfully reduces the possibility of an already uncertain veto-override.
First, the longer a civil right remains a law on the books, the harder and more incomprehensible it will be to strip it away. Secondly, more couples will marry in the intervening year, meaning more people - both the spouses themselves and their friends and families - will be personally invested in fighting repeal. Finally, and most importantly, public opinion, which three separate polls showed in no uncertain terms is solidly against repeal, is not going to reverse itself in the course of a year. This isn't a left-right issue. It's a young-old one. Every minute that we move into the future is a minute where the anti-marriage crowd loses support and the broader public embraces marriage as a civil right.
So why did Bill O'Brien choose to wait a year if it hurts his chances of taking away the rights of others?
The answer to that is that the Republican leadership in Concord doesn't care about "protecting traditional marriage," but they care an awful lot about image and money.
Retaining the anti-marriage bills helps the Republicans in two ways that have nothing to do with actually repealing marriage. It puts a large band-aid on the public relations disaster that has been the past two months of the Bill O'Brien statehouse. Now they can claim that they have put aside a big social issue in favor of a focus on jobs and the economy (disingenuously, as there is a raft of insane nonsense emanating from the statehouse which has nothing to do with jobs and the economy). And perhaps more importantly for them: they can fill their campaign and Cornerstone coffers with POTUS Wannabe PAC money, each of whom will try to out-Santorum the other in anti-gay appeals to the base during the NH-Primary season.
This was published in the March 4, 2011 issue of the Conway Daily Sun. Remember, you are a political junkie who knows all this. It's news to the average CDS reader.
On January 13 of this year, House Republican Leader DJ Bettencourt proclaimed: "social issues must take a back seat." He said that the focus should be on economic problems like unemployment and the budget deficit. Bettencourt went as far as saying that the Republicans could not be seen as having campaigned on one set of issues, then governing on another. This was a big announcement; aimed at letting us all know that the repeal of NH's marriage equality law was not going to occur this year. The mainstream media faithfully repeated this story, serving as always, as unquestioning stenographers for the NH GOP.
Maggie Gallagher, front woman for National Organization for Marriage, trying desperately to spin the disastrous showing marriage equality opponents had at Thursday's legislative hearing in New Hampshire, posted an interesting talking point she seemed to think had value to her organization's blog. Praising her compatriot in bigotry, Kevin Smith from Cornerstone Action PAC, who is like her, a professional homophobe that collects a salary to testify against the equal rights of gay people, Maggie says:
My favorite Kevin Smith line: "The sky didn't fall in 2008 when the voters repealed same-sex marriage. The sky didn't fall in Maine either the next year in 2009, when the voters repealed gay marriage passed by the legislature."
Some Quotes from the repealing Marriage Equality Hearing
Rep. David Bates: "I sit under the portrait of Daniel Webster. I draw great inspiration from him."
Rep. Leo Pepino: "You're going to hear the same thing over and over from all these people."
Rep. Jeanine "cupcakes for cancer" Notter: "Save my testimony for next year."
Rep. Timothy Horrigan: regarding HB 569: "We have a good word for marriage: MARRIAGE."
Senator Ray White: "This is a frontal assault on values held throughout human history." "I am a Christian - I know that is not a popular position. I am not ashamed."
Former Senator Harold Janeway: "I am a justice of the peace -and what a wonderful term that is."
Rep. Steve Vallaincourt: "No straight person is denied love when gay people are allowed to marry."
Rep. Al Baldasaro: "This isn't about being gay, I oppose this for the word marriage. One day Christians woke up and it was all over. This isn't about gay, it's about marriage."
Lew Feldstein: "This is a state that depends on trust. In 2009 NH provided those rights. We made a commitment to those people. We do not take away those rights, on a whim, because of an election. Polls show that the majority of NH residents do not want this law change. It will damage the trust the people have in our government."
A Teabagger: "Homosexual marriage is a negation of Christian freedom. I oppose the anti-Christian bigotry of the last 2 years."
Tony Fallon: "My love is a gushing geyser."
Senator Fenton Groen: "Let's end this social experiment in genderless marriage."
Constitutional Expert Extraordinaire Dan Itse: "The people did not grant us the power to make this decision."
Former State Rep. Robert Thompson: "God made me in his image."
Mrs. Jay Ledoux (whose husband allowed her to testify): Opposes "revisionist marriage." "It always goes to the schools and reeducation."
Whiny White Male Minister: Described the crowd as "gays ,lesbians, bisexuals, and intersex.""Did government give us God, or did God give us government?" "Many people were too intimidated to come here. You people in red are intimidating." (perhaps he feared a group of gay men would march him downtown to buy him a new wardrobe.)
Reverend Zane Knoy: "The Bible has everything in it - it'll drive you crazy."
Caitlin Rollo: "What's next, my right to vote?"
Mrs. Theresa Ash (whose husband allowed her to testify): "We must keep our country strong." "When I played with dolls, we were wives and our husbands went to work."
Kid with a 'fro from St. Paul's School: "WE WILL NOT STOP!"
In November 2010 a tsunami of red swept Concord, New Hampshire, when the GOP won veto-proof majorities in the state House and Senate.
Yesterday, the tide was high and red in the Granite State again. But unlike the one in 2010, that left me devastated and distraught, this one brought waves of elation and joy.
This is a cross post of a diary I posted to the Daily Kos today. It was on the front page rec list all day. I wanted NH activists, organizers and everyone who participated to know, a nation's eyes saw what you did yesterday, and it was greatly appreciated. A job well-done, Granite Staters. Sending my love and support from Brooklyn, NY.
