The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) has pledged $250,000 to support New Hampshire lawmakers who
vote for a bill that would repeal the state's 2-year-old gay marriage
law.
Republican Representative David Bates
last year introduced a bill that would replace the law with civil
unions for any unmarried adults, including relatives, and would allow
anyone to refuse to recognize such unions.
If approved, New Hampshire would become
the first state to legislative overturn a gay marriage law.
“Sixty-one percent of New Hampshire
GOP primary voters support a legislative definition of marriage as
the union between a man and a woman alongside of a provision of civil
unions,” NOM President Brian Brown said in a statement. “We
intend to hold every legislator accountable for his or her vote on
marriage. Those who support HB 437 will be rewarded, while those who
don't will suffer the consequences in the next election.”
“We will consider a vote against the
legislation a vote for same-sex marriage, and we will hold
legislators accountable. NOM will support those who support marriage
and will work with local New Hampshire organizations to recruit
pro-traditional marriage candidates to run against those who vote
against HB 437 and fund them,” Brown added.
Republican leaders last year decided to
postpone debate on the bill until 2012. House Majority Leader D.J.
Bettencourt last week said that a vote on the measure would not come
up in the House until February.
A WMUR
Granite State poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center
found that only 27 percent of 500 randomly selected adults reached by
telephone support repealing the law, while 50 percent are strongly
opposed to repeal.
Approximately 2,000 gay and lesbian
couples have married since the law took effect.
NOM has also vowed to derail gay
marriage bills in Washington
state and New
Jersey.