Supporters of New Hampshire's year-old
gay marriage law greatly outnumbered opponents Thursday during a
hearing to consider two bills that aim to end the institution in the
state.
Hundreds of people packed a House
Judiciary Committee hearing considering the bills. According to the
Nashua Telegraph, 45 people signed up in support of the bills
and 545 opposed them.
The law, now in its second year as of
January 1, made New Hampshire the fifth state to legalize the
institution.
Republicans in the state gained
veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the Legislature on November
2, putting the law in jeopardy.
Republican leaders in the House have
asked the committee to hold the bills until next year, but House
rules require the hearings to be held this year.
Majority
Leader David J. “D.J.” Bettencourt angered social conservatives
when he said that the issue is not part of the House Republican
agenda.
The bill's House sponsor, Republican
Representative David Bates, who previously had urged lawmakers to
take up the issue this year, suddenly altered course on Thursday.
“I have been assured the effort to
restore traditional marriage will have the full support of House
leadership when the time comes to take it up next year,” Bates
said.
“The majority of people as well as
the majority of courts have rejected the idea that same-sex marriage
is a basic human right,” Maggie Gallagher, chair of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), a group which opposes the
institution, told lawmakers.
“It is not discrimination to treat
different things differently,” she added.
Republican Senator Ray White said,
“Government should strive to support only the best, most ideal
household arrangement.”
A
poll released earlier this month found sixty-two percent of adults
oppose repeal of the law.