Civil Unions Strongly Supported at Hearing

Panel's road session draws 100 people

By BEVERLEY WANG
The Associated Press

June 01. 2005 8:00AM

LITTLETON - Gay marriage commissioners made their first group foray outside the state capital Tuesday to ask the public whether and how same-sex couples should be recognized in New Hampshire; the answers they received tilted overwhelmingly in favor of allowing same-sex civil unions and marriage.

About 100 people gathered at the Littleton Opera House to meet the 15-member panel, created last year to examine all aspects of same sex civil marriage, its alternatives and legal ramifications. The session was chaired by Rep. Tony Soltani.

By the grueling meeting's 2½-hour mark, only three people had spoken against same sex unions.

Gay marriage proponents in the North Country hit the same message pushed repeatedly by others in past meetings: limiting marriage to heterosexuals is a civil rights violation that needs to be corrected.

"Separate but not quite equal will never be equal," said Ronnie Sandler of Easton, who asked commissioners to support civil marriage for gays and lesbians.

Several members of the clergy testified yesterday, but only one spoke against same-sex unions. Rev. Curt Hanners of Christ Church in Littleton warned that efforts to normalize homosexual relationships posed a hazard to families and children. Hanners blamed popular culture and political correctness for the "popularization" of homosexuality.

"We appeal to you and the governor . . . to reject these efforts," he said.

Hanners'said his church split from New Hampshire's Episcopal Diocese because of opposition to Bishop Gene Robinson, the only openly gay bishop elected to head an Episcopal diocese.

The commission also heard testimony from Rev. Brendan Hadash, who said about half of the parishioners at his St. Johnsbury, Vt., Unitarian Universalist Church come from New Hampshire. Five years after Vermont legalized civil unions for gays and lesbians, Hadash said heterosexual marriage had been strengthened by the increased attention on marital rights.

"Since civil unions were legalized in Vermont the number of straight weddings I have performed has almost quadrupled," he said.

The commission's next on-the-road meeting is planned for Portsmouth in June.

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