Same sex marriage (SSM) and civil unions

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Civil unions and same-sex
marriage (SSM) in New Hampshire

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Overview:

Governor John Lynch (D) signed a civil union bill on 2007-MAY-31. It went into effect on 2008-JAN-01. Loving, committed same-sex couples can now enter into civil unions and receive all of the hundreds of state benefits that only opposite-sex married couples had previously enjoyed.

During 2009-APR, the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released a statewide poll that found that:

	55% of adult residents support SSM
	39% oppose SSM
	6% don't know or refused to answer.

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage (SSM) in New Hampshire was passed by the state Senate and House during early 2009-MAY.

On 2009-MAY-14, Governor Lynch said that he would sign a bill authorizing SSM if the Legislature modified it to give greater protections to churches and church employees who wanted to continue to discriminate against same-sex couples. The House narrowly defeated an amended bill. The House and Senate then formed a joint committee to find a wording for the bill that will pass both bodies.

The House and Senate were able to reach a compromise and Governor Lynch signed it into law on 2009-JUN-03. New Hampshire thus became the sixth U.S. state to legalize SSM. That leaves Rhode Island as the only holdout against SSM among the New England states. Because of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in that state, SSM may be difficult to achieve there.

Loving, committed same-sex couples will be able to marry in 2010-JAN.

However, same-sex couples are still be denied over 1,100 federal benefits that are routinely given to opposite-sex married couples.

Topics covered in this section:

	Civil unions: Introduction, public opinion, committee hearings.   House approval. Senate committee approval. Public opinion poll   Senate passes bill. Governor signs it into law.
	Same-sex marriage (SSM): SSM bill passed by House; Senate committee hearings   SSM bill passed by Legislature   Governor Lynch approves the bill in principle, but asks for changes   SSM comes to New Hampshire   What do the polls say?

Copyright © 2007 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2007-APR-19
Latest update: 2009-JUN-04
Author: B.A. Robinson

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