MARRIAGE COMMISSION UPDATE

December 2, 2005

There was this big huge collective sigh of relief as the last meeting occurred on Monday, November 7th.  This process has not been an easy one for many of us been.

Of course, the recommendation for a Constitutional Amendment reserving marriage to a man and woman received a majority vote.  But it was the only 'action' recommendation of significance that the majority was able to pull together. 

They voted against: marriage; civil unions and second-parent adoption.

They could not even get majority support for Reciprocal Benefits -- a package of benefits loosely based on the Hawaii model.  (Both ex-Senator Prescott and, I believe, Senator Barnes voted against those.)  The Reciprocal Benefits recommendation was the majority's nod to the need for gay and lesbian couples to receive some additional benefits.  But it is a far cry even from Civil Unions and they, of course, wanted to include unmarried adults to receive the same benefits, which would further dilute the importance of such benefits for same sex couples.

Other findings or recommendations that will appear in the majority report are:

A. that Goodridge v. department of public health, 440 mass. 309, 798 n.e.2d 941 (2003) was not decided correctly since the judiciary should not be making law.
B. reject the notion that same-sex marriage is comparable to civil rights and consistent with loving v. Virginia, 388 u.s. 1 (1967).
C. any change in the public policy regarding marriage must be made by elected representatives of the people and the people of New Hampshire.
D. religious freedom being an essential right in New Hampshire, no person should be required to perform any marriage which would otherwise offend his or her conscience.
E. that the legislature amend the New Hampshire patient's bill of rights to clarify that a competent patient's wishes relative to the patient's choice of visitation and visitors are to be insured and respected by health care providers.
F. that the legislature clarify that same sex couples that have legal recognition in their home state for parental rights to be recognized as joint guardians under NH's law for joint guardian rights and out of state reciprocally as defined in rsa 463:10, rsa 463:30, and rsa 462:32a.

They will also include in their report some of their take on the "Nature versus Nurture" issue and issues related to parenting and children.

Throughout the process of the commission, we coordinated the strategy with commissioners supportive of civil marriage -- Martha Fuller Clark; Ray Buckley; Jim MacKay Ed Butler and Steve Vaillancourt. I believe that we achieved the best we could from this biased and mostly conservative group.  We have seen their strategies before anything is brought to floor of the legislature.  We have seen their strength in numbers and their passionate prejudice.  We have seen the weakness in their arguments.

Since we could not achieve progressive or supportive recommendations from this commission we needed to show that it was biased and that its recommendations should not be considered as reasonable. We were able to make good recommendations and arguments to the commission.  We assembled an outstanding group of experts who spoke before the commission.  And the response of the majority was the same as it would have been on the first day that the commission sat.

The final steps were assisting the minority commissioners in writing the minority report.

I believe that this report will give NHFTM a great document with which to do education and lobbying in the future.

Call your Legislator and tell them to vote against the Constitutional Amendment

To read the reports click here

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Sept. 23, 2005

The commission held 4 public hearings over the past few months. They were alternately wonderful and heart-wrenching. There was wonderful testimony from many perspectives in support of marriage equality. And there was much opposition to the rights of same sex couples to marry.

The commissioners have heard many hours of expert testimony, and what they heard from those supporting marriage equality was spectacular. From the perspectives of child development and child advocacy experts; from a man who went through “reparative therapy” but continues to be gay; from a biologist and from a constitutional lawyer, the commissioners heard sound and smart support for marriage equality.

The commission is now beginning the process of sifting through the large amount of information that they have received and are working out the structure that they will use to draft their final report to the legislature, which is due December 1st.

We at NHFTM believe that we have worked with the commission as successfully as possible. Due to the process in which commissioners were selected, we doubt that the commission will recommend full marriage equality but we have learned much during this process; have built better bridges in the legislature; have mobilized many more supporters and have done good education in communities throughout the state. We will continue to work with the commission in these last few months to achieve the best possible results.

If you could not attend the hearings and would still like to share your support of marriage equality to the Commission, you can email Rep. Maureen Mooney at votemooney@aol.com .


The following experts were heard by the commission:

Dr. John Diggs, Jr. (Physician from Massachusetts) would address the impact of homosexuality in society specifically addressing health issues. Recommended by Commissioner Fredyma.

Rep. Phillip Travis (Massachusetts State Representative) has filed the Marriage Affirmation and Protection Act in Massachusetts and is a proponent of the Reciprocal Benefits Contract Act. Recommended by Commissioner Fredyma.

Maggie Gallagher (Institute for Marriage and Public Policy) is a nationally syndicated Columnist, and the author of three books on marriage. National Journal named her to the 2004 list of the most influential people in the same-sex marriage debate and has researched international same-sex marriage laws. Recommended by Commissioner Earnshaw.

Craig Bensen, M.Div., D.Min. (Pastor of the Cambridge United Church in Vermont) has extensive experience debating the same-sex marriage issue. Recommended by Commissioner Earnshaw.

Eleanor Vander Haegan (Sociologist) to report on the history of marriage throughout the ages and in various locations. Recommended by Rep. Vaillancourt.

Prof. Barbara Cox (Professor of law; interstate recognition and conflicts of law, California Western School of Law) would focus on conflict of law issues. Recommended by Commissioner Butler.

Prof. Nancy Cott (Department of History, Harvard University) has studied women’s issues extensively. Recommended by Commissioner Butler.

Prof. Dick Hesse (Professor of Constitutional Law at FPLC) would focus on issues of state constitutional law. Recommended by Commissioner Butler.

Christine Barney, MD (Former President of the NH Psychiatric Society) is a psychiatrist in New Hampshire and will emphasize science in her testimony. She will address the nature v. nurture subject of homosexuality. Recommended by Rep. MacKay.

Mark Perriello (Ex-gay from NH, lives in DC) has experience in reparative therapy having gone through it himself. Recommended by Rep. Mackay.

Dennis Bobilya (Biologist at UNH, Associate Professor in Animal and Nutritional Sciences) has performed studies of homosexuality. He is a biologist and would address the effects of homosexuality in nature. Recommended by Rep. MacKay.

Dr. Ellen Parrin (Medical Director of Center for Children with Special Needs, Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician Tufts – New England Medical Center) is an internationally known scholar on issues of pediatrics and was the lead author on a report related to same-sex parenting. Recommended by Commissioner Buckley.

Steve Varnum (Children’s Alliance of NH) would address the effects of same-sex marriage on children. Recommended by Commissioner Buckley.

Susan Hassan, Esq. (Attorney with Getman, Stacey, Schulthess & Steere in Bedford) has experience in domestic relations law involving same-sex couples in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Recommended by Commissioner Buckley.

Lee Badgett (Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics at University of Massachusetts Amherst) is a co-founder and researcher of the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies. Has conducted several studies on the fiscal impact of allowing same-sex couples to marry in various states. Recommended by Commissioner Buckley.

Rep. Byron Rushing (Massachusetts State Representative) will address marriage related issues in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and civil rights issues. Recommended by Commissioner Butler.