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A long-time reader emailed to let me know that a friend in Rye got a knock on the door today from someone "with a petition to put gay marriage on the ballot."
Since there isn't a way to put it on the state ballot, presumably this is either some town/local-based GOTV scheme for the GOP.
Anyone who sees or hears more about this, please let us know. If you get solicited, ask who is behind it.
(btw, it's the second of January already, and I'm still waiting for my marriage to be threatened by Teh Gays and their new rights. This is SO not going down as advertised!)
Join us New Years Eve at the State Capitol in Concord as we celebrate equality and witness history taking effect as the first gay and lesbian couples get married in New Hampshire at 12:01 A.M. Festivities begin at 10:30 P.M..
If you want to get married or volunteer e-mail info@nhftm.org
I'm usually a glass-half-empty kind of thinker about politics and policy.
But the joy that will come here on New Year's Day, joy still denied to so many in this country, makes me really proud to be a Granite Stater.
Do you think that the 200 billion dollars left over from the bank bailout should be used for a stimulus package to create jobs or should it go to reduce the federal budget deficit?
New Hampshire's marriage equality law goes into effect the first of the year. But already there are attempts to repeal it. Emboldened by the success of ballot measures in California and Maine, some state representatives have already put in bills. One, sponsored by Rep. Al Baldassaro (R-Londonderry) and co-sponsored by Rep. Jordan Ulery (R-Hudson), would repeal marriage, but allow for civil unions.
Ulery:
"Marriage isn't an equal rights issue," he said. "I don't believe it's a right at all. It's a privilege."
Along with the law repealing marriage equality, a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality is being introduced. One of the co-sponsors is Rep. Daniel Itse (R-Fremont). In the article, Itse claims the legislature didn't have the authority to pass marriage equality. The constitutional amendment does not allow for civil unions, either.
"Civil unions are not part of the equation," said Itse, who said gay marriage is "against the laws of nature."
Okay. Now imagine people like Itse, Ulery and Baldassaro in leadership positions, which they will be if the NH House goes from a Democratic to a Republican majority in the next election.
Local races are not big and sexy, but there are many "swing" districts in the state. Please, when you decide to put time, energy and money somewhere, consider supporting Democratic candidates for State House and State Senate. It will do little good to have a great congressional delegation in Washington, DC, if there isn't the same in Concord.
Millions of dollars poured into Maine to defeat equality there. The same groups and players will be pouring money into the coffers of candidates willing to overturn what we have in New Hampshire.
note: you betcha Kevin Smith, Dan Itse, etc. want all this out of state money to come to NH to influence the 2010 elections.
In May 2009, the Maine legislature passed a marriage equality bill. Governor Baldacci signed the bill - ensuring that Maine gays would have the same rights as Maine heterosexuals into law. Sadly for everyone, Maine has a process known as "the People's Veto" which means that any Maine voter may propose a veto referendum to be placed on a statewide ballot, in order to reject a law recently passed by the Maine state legislature. The "People's Veto" may have once seemed like a swell idea in a democracy, a way to give folks at the grassroots level a voice. In terms of social issues, a referendum question on a ballot means that tons of special interest money will pour in from out of state, to influence, and (in Maine's case) determine the outcome.
So Adam Krauss wrote a really quite fine and nuanced piece on marriage equality and the potential ramifications of Maine's election on us.
Someone less fine and nuanced, but with an agenda, must have sent it to Republico's Ben Smith, who made linkbait out of it, with the headline "Reconsidering Marriage in New Hampshire" and with a blockquote and description that conveyed zero of the nuance.
From there, to Taegan, and thus, vapors and breathless emails ahoy.
Please. Let's start over, shall we, with some of the things in Krauss' piece that weren't splashed across the intertubes:
Lynch wouldn't support repealing the gay-marriage law if it reached his desk, spokesman Colin Manning said. "It was carefully crafted legislation, now law, that protects the rights of all of our citizens and the governor would not support changing it," he said.
and
Slim chance of that happening, according to House Speaker Terie Norelli, D-Portsmouth.
and
There are no proposals currently in the Senate, where Minority Leader Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, says lawmakers' agendas will reflect people's concerns over the economy, jobs and high taxes.
Besides, he said, the 14-10, party-line vote approving gay marriage won't change, he said.
and
Democratic Chairman Raymond Buckley said the legislation "wouldn't make it out of either legislative body."
Heck, even Civil Rights Leader Kevin Smith calls it an "uphill battle" in the piece, and John H. Sununu basically dismisses the idea of a repeal.
That's not to say we shouldn't do everything possible to defeat the haters' bills. But on the other hand, let's not let linkbait cause us to forget the firm ground we are on either.
Did the Obama administration and the DNC do anything to save marriage, or did they just sit on the side?
In 2008 then DNC Chair Howard Dean did send money to the pro-marriage forces in California, albeit a little late. Today's DNC apparently sent nothing. President Obama and Attorney General Holder's lack of comments are also troubling.
Just as disturbing was Raymond Buckley's comments to this question in Dean Barker's posting about the vote, saying that "Blame, if there is to be blame, belongs on the shoulders of the members of the LGBT community who failed to help with the effort in Maine. It is telling when one of the loudest voices of complaint on the blogs and media about the lack of progress, posts on his facebook page on Monday morning that he is still wasted from a weekend of non-stop partying. Maine needed more dollars and foot soldiers from our own community. http://www.bluehampshire.com/showC...
There is plenty of blame to go around, but for Raymond, the NHDP Chair to blame the loss on wasted party boys is preposterous and embarrassing. Raymond has also refused to answer the question.
It is not just me - others have made similar comments today:
Five states have legalized gay marriage - Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut - but all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote.
The Associated Press will not determine marriage equality to be acceptable in Villager Conventional Wisdom until every last man, woman, and child in America approves of it with hands raised.
There was an hour-long debate last night on WMTW, Channel 8 in Portland about next week's vote on Question One asking whether Maine's same-sex marriage law should be overturned.
The debate featured Mary Bonauto, GLAD Civil Rights Project Director, and Brian Souchet, representing opponents of same-sex marriage.
The video can be found on the WMTW website: http://www.wmtw.com/video/2145...
The Portland Press Herald's article can be found here: http://pressherald.mainetoday....
Since the Grand Pajandrum posted video of lifelong Republican and WWII vet Phillip Spooner's passionate support for marriage equality, other bigger fish have done so (Sullivan, Boing Boing). It's gone viral (over half a millions views!) and Spooner has become the face of the No on 1 campaign next door in Maine.
Of course, this just gives me an excuse to re-play one of the best vids ever to be embedded on this site:
A victory in Maine will solidify marriage equality in New England, and make us the regional leaders in the country on this civil right. Can you help?
Maine clearly provided our state with much needed momentum when they passed marriage equality while we were still in the thick of our own legislative process.
Now the haters are back with a voter referendum to overturn it. But speaking of momentum, it's on the side of equality according to the latest poll. And Maine's AG just delivered the haters a stinging defeat in a central plank of their fear and smear campaign.
If you live near enough to Maine to help, please consider it:
This is, candidly, in our self-interest too. Having a marriage equality zone throughout New England makes us a beacon of progress and equality for the nation.
And, President Snowe notwithstanding, as Maine goes, so goes the nation.
(A national issue with distinct New Hampshire implications (perhaps) come 2010. - promoted by Dean Barker)
I believe the following polls on marriage equality bode well for us in 2010 elections. The Repugs want to use this as an issue against Lynch and the Republicans, but it appears it will not be very successful for them:
The astute Nate Silver in his FiveThirtyEight blog discusses the results of a straw poll taken at the Value Voters Summit. The Summit was sponsored by the rabidly anti-marriage Family Research Council.
"Abortion ranked first among issues of concern to straw-poll voters, getting 41 percent of the vote, with protection of religious liberty second with 18 percent. Opposition to same-sex marriage was third at 7 percent." http://www.fivethirtyeight.com...
Also, in the first Des Moines Register poll since the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a statutory ban on gay marriage in April, Iowans are evenly divided on the issue with 41% saying they would vote for a constitutional ban and 40% opposed to a ban.
However, the overwhelming majority of Iowans -- 92% -- say gay marriage has brought no real change to their lives. http://www.desmoinesregister.c...
Oh dear. But really, we all knew Shrub's religious right pander was basically a horse and pony show for votes:
For a commencement address at Furman University in spring 2008, Ed Gillespie wanted to insert a few lines condemning gay marriage. Bush called the speech too "condemnatory" and said, "I'm not going to tell some gay kid in the audience that he can't get married."
No worries though. Civil Rights Leader Kevin Smith will tell that kid he can't by telling him it's the same as marrying his sister:
The other side wants to say this is about discrimination, but there's already discrimination built into marriage. You can't marry your cousin, you can't marry your cousin's sister, you can have polygamy, and on and on. The whole issue runs hollow if you scratch below the surface."
I know there is a great deal of focus on healthcare and on the campaign to (I dearly hope) replace Senator Gregg with a Democratic Senator who is deeply connected to the people and values of New Hampshire.
At the same time, things are gearing up next door in Maine to save marriage equality.
The first ad aired in favor of marriage equality has been released, and it's funded by a number of organizations. I think it's beautiful:
DailyKos released the results of its Research 2000 poll today on the NH-Senate race (Laura's take here.) I love R2K polls, which the Concord Monitor has also used, because they take a much more demographically representative sample than UNH or ARG.
The poll also asked the following question:
As you may know same-sex couples were granted the right to legally marry in New Hampshire. Do you approve or disapprove of this decision?
The results had 41% approval, 49% disapproval, and 10% unsure.
While I'm sure this will give the anti-marriage haters fuel for their fight, I do think that's actually a decent public approval number for what's basically new civil rights legislation.
What's more interesting to me, though largely unsurprising, however, is the severe generation gap on this issue. Voters aged 18-29 approve of marriage equality in New Hampshire 53 to 39 percent, much higher than any other age group. To put it in simpler terms, the law passed this year speaks to where the country is headed. Support for marriage equality should only grow and become less controversial as time rolls on.
Also, and just as importantly, independents favor marriage equality 46 to 44 percent, showing that despite the GOP base holding firmly against, they are not dragging along those not in the Rush Limbaugh/Kevin Smith circle of hate.
What was surprising to me was the marked difference in approval based on gender. Men show 37 approval vs. 55 disapproval (8 undecided), while women betray a great deal more tolerance at 45 to 43 (12 undecided). The last thing I could claim to be is a specialist on gender studies, but this disparity is significant enough, imo, not to pass by. There's all kinds of easy stereotypes I could throw out there to answer that question, but I'm not going to jump into culture wars that will, as the poll shows, be moot in a generation or so.
Hey BH, greetings from Washington state. Thought I would post this since you all probably know people in Connecticut, and I know there is an important statewide race coming up in NH soon. Not that you guys need any help hypingChris Dodd.
Part 1
Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-Conn.) decision to support full marriage equality means that embattled statewide politicians can finally run toward marriage equality rather than away from it.
With his op-ed in the Meriden (Conn.) Record-Journal, Dodd became the second U.S. Senator to change his mind on the issue in recent weeks, joining Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) who announced in May.
Nor should it be ignored that Rhode Island's former Republican-turned independent Sen. Lincoln Chafee also cast his vote for marriage equality with an op-ed in Bay Windows last week. Chafee was voted out of office in 2006--after a 16-point victory in his 2000 election--because Rhode Island voters couldn't stomach having anyone associated with the Republican Party representing them in Washington. Now Chafee is positioning himself for a gubernatorial run.
It starts with a few states; it moves across the nation.
Part 2
Chris Dodd, with a strict emission standards and carbon tax proposal that won over the likes of Al Gore, had arguably the best energy plan out of the entire 2008 Democratic presidential field.
He was an early and forceful voice on FISA and has since discussed the idea of Bush administration torture trials. Plus he had the balls to endorse Ned Lamont over his long time colleague and King Rat Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in 2006.
Now Dodd stands up for marriage equality in the middle of a re-election race that the Republicans are salivating all over.
He deserves more love from the left. If you know someone in Connecticut, where Dodd's polling has been dismal all year, I suggest you call them.
Chris Dodd's turnaround on marriage equality has resulted in one of the most eloquent releases I've ever read. It's worth reading in full, but here are some highlights:
Public officials aren't supposed to change their minds. But I firmly believe that it's important to keep learning.
...While I've long been for extending every benefit of marriage to same-sex couples, I have in the past drawn a distinction between a marriage-like status ("civil unions") and full marriage rights.
The reason was simple: I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And as many other Americans have realized as they've struggled to reconcile the principle of fairness with the lessons they learned early in life, that's not an easy thing to overcome.
But the fact that I was raised a certain way just isn't a good enough reason to stand in the way of fairness anymore.
...I believe that, when my daughters grow up, barriers to marriage equality for same-sex couples will seem as archaic, and as unfair, as the laws we once had against inter-racial marriage.
And I want them to know that, even if he was a little late, their dad came down on the right side of history.
The momentum to marriage equality across the states hit a little bump recently when those two ne'er-do-wells in the NY State Senate decided to become Republicans, or something. So this small, but powerful piece of news is important in keeping it going, if only to add a voice for equality among the most tone-deaf club in town, the U.S. Senate.
