Partisans debate gay mariage today

Lawmakers expect a marathon public hearing starting at 10 a.m. this morning on two bills that would expand gay rights. HB-235, co-sponsored by Representative Robert Theberge, D-Berlin, makes an out-of-state gay marriage legal in New Hampshire. Lawmakers will also hear testimony on HB-437, which would let same-sex couples form spousal unions with all the benefits, duties and protections of marriage.

“This is full marriage rights without the word marriage,” said the prime sponsor, Rep. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth, who is openly gay. “I think we have to provide equality for two people who happen to be of the same sex if they want to make a commitment to one another.”

Today is just the first in a series of Statehouse showdowns in the debate between gay activists and religious conservatives with a biblical and family-values worldview. The split has followed party lines for years. This time Democrats control the legislature and the governor’s office, with the final say on these and six related bills.

HB-771 would expand medical benefits to same-sex partners of state employees. HB-905 recognizes civil unions between gays or lesbians. HB-249 lets unrelated adults form binding contracts to cohabit. The legislation is designed to give stability to partnerships between senior citizens or recent divorcees who are reluctant to marry, but need some of the legal protections of marriage.

HB-791 removes the statutory ban against same-sex marriages and frees a minister not to bless marriages he or she feels uncomfortable with. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Ed Butler, D-Hart’s Location; Rep. Gail Morrison, D-Sanbornton, and Rep. Mo Baxley, D-Canterbury. Baxley is also executive director of the statewide Freedom to Marry Coalition, which lobbies for gay rights.

Butler owns a bed and breakfast inn with his long-term partner, Les Schoof. They were plaintiffs in a recent Massachusetts Supreme Court case that might have let out-of-state gays get married in the Bay State. Same-sex couples from all around the country were lining up to say their vows, until Butler’s side lost. Permanent residents of Massachusetts are still allowed to marry there, but would forfeit that status if they moved to New Hampshire.

Before running for the House, Butler served as one of the gay members on the controversial Same Sex Unions Commission. It recommended a constitutional change to define marriage as between a man and woman, leaving gays on the outside. Butler called that idea an insult to folks who deserve equality, and he signed onto a minority report instead.

“Someone has to hold out for full equality with heterosexuals,” Butler explained at the time. “Civil unions certainly are a step on the way to marriage, and not that they’re not a bad thing, but this struggle is going to take time. People need to understand there is a constituency out there that wants full equality. I represent it. Opinion polls say the public supports marriage for same sex partners. It’s not just the minority I speak for.”

The gay caucus on the commission urged lawmakers to enact a Vermont gay unions law almost verbatim, but their motion failed 8-3. But Butler voted no, looking for something better.

“The conservatives felt anything that smacks of real equality is unacceptable,” said Butler.

Butler’s commission heard testimony at several public hearings around the state. The one in the North Country drew a huge and emotional crowd.

The Reverend Dean Steward helped to start the New Hampshire Traditional Anglican denomination, a revolt against the Episcopal Church and its pro-gay theology under openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson. The relatively new group has several congregations in the lakes Region and North Country. He said being gay is a choice people can reverse.

“People who for a variety of reasons have same sex attractions have been assisted in liberating themselves from multiple sexual encounters which they see as leading to depression, disease and insecurity,” he testified.

Bishop Robinson called it a shame that churches are working against people who love each other and want to pledge their lifelong commitment in a stable household.

Sandy Louischmidt of Bartlett is heterosexual, but urged policy makers to grant gays the right to marry.

“The easiest way to bestow that right is call their unions what they really are, marriages,” she testified.

Susan Bruce of Jackson said she is straight and twice divorced.

“If anyone cheapens the institution of marriage, it’s heterosexuals like me,” she said. “If I can be married, so should my gay friends.”

The reverend Eleanor McLaughlin of Berlin told policy makers she was married to a man for 20 years, and had been married ‘in the eyes of God” to a woman for 16.

On the other side of the issue, HB-69 this term says marriage is only between a man and woman, and CACR 1 would change the constitution to define marriage as between a man and woman.

Dennis Bobilya, a UNH biology professor, spoke last year against a similar constitutional change. He said homosexuality is common in hundreds of species, including black swans, penguins, bighorn sheep, dolphins, and chimpanzees. He noted that human sexual orientation is a spectrum from heterosexual to same-sex attraction, and the trait is partly inherited. The identical twin of a gay man is gay 52-percent of the time, he explained. For lesbians, that correlation is 48-percent.

“Homosexual behavior is as natural as heterosexual,” he said. “Same sex attraction clearly has a biological basis, though its precise explanation remains elusive at this time.”

Rep. Alida Millham of Gilford said gays have far fewer protections than married heterosexuals.

“The social discrimination against gays is serious,” she added. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to erase the stigma.”

Rep. James Pilliod, R-Belmont, is closely following the moral struggle. He opposed the constitutional change last time, saying he wouldn’t want to tell gays they couldn’t marry because they’re not heterosexual.

“I don’t think the religious constituents should be the ones asking for a constitutional amendment,” Pilliod said at the time. “Some people live together 50 years and never get married. If they can stick together that long, male or female, they’re better than average. We’re surrounded by states that honor gay unions- Vermont. Maine, Massachusetts, and Canada too. There is something in the constitution about the separation of church and state.”