A New Hampshire panel will consider on
Wednesday two bills that would repeal the state's 18-month-old gay
marriage law, the AP reported.
A subcommittee of the Judiciary
Committee is beginning work on the two proposed bills, neither of
which would affect the marriages of gay and lesbian couples who have
already tied the knot, but would stop new couples from marrying.
In March, the House Judiciary Committee
voted unanimously to hold off on the legislation until the following
legislative session. Republican leaders had urged the committee to
shelve the bills, insisting social issues must take a back seat to
the state's fiscal crisis.
The move came after the committee held
a public hearing on the issue in which a majority of the six hundred
people in attendance said they were opposed to repeal of the law,
which went into effect on January 1, 2010.
At the hearing, opponents of the law
testified that they fear the institution because it
would lead to disease and polygamy.
The law was signed by Democratic
Governor John Lynch, who has vowed to veto any repeal attempt.
Republicans, however, gained veto-proof majorities in both chambers
during last year's general election.
The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM), the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage, worked
against Lynch's reelection, arguing that he lied to constituents in
2006 when he said he opposed marriage equality.