Gay Marriage Hits a Nerve: New Member Refused Seat

By Meg Heckman
Concord Monitor

April 26, 2005

A judge will likely decide who should represent the governor's office on a commission studying gay marriage and civil unions in New Hampshire. Raymond Buckley, whom Gov. John Lynch appointed to the commission this winter, plans to sue its chairman, Rep. Tony Soltani, because Soltani refuses to accept Buckley as a commissioner. Soltani, an Epsom Republican, believes a man appointed by former governor Craig Benson should remain on the board instead. Buckley began looking for a lawyer yesterday afternoon when Soltani barred him from participating in the second commission meeting in a row. The lawsuit, Buckley said, will charge that Soltani, an attorney, is ignoring the law. Buckley may also file legislative ethics charges with House leaders, and ask the New Hampshire Bar Association to investigate Soltani's actions. "Soltani's behavior is nothing less than being a bully," Buckley said. "Bullies just have no business in being a leader." The attorney general's office sided with Buckley earlier this month, but Soltani wouldn't budge yesterday, saying it was Lynch who was breaking the law. He believes the man appointed by Benson, Bryan Gould, should remain on the commission until he resigns or the board disbands. "Just because someone carries the title of governor, he cannot break the law," Soltani said. The attorney general's opinion, he added later, "has no merit at all. . . . Somebody just sat down at their word processor and spat something out." Meanwhile, others at the State House are growing concerned with Soltani's abilities as chairman. Public testimony yesterday was tense and emotional, but some in the audience said Soltani allowed it to go too far.

At one point, a man used profanity to describe a sexual act, said Rep. Gail Morrison, a Tilton Democrat who watched the meeting. "The gavel never came down,"she said. "There was a lot of biblical reference and calling down Satan, things that seemed not to address, in my opinion, whether or not the state should recognize a legal status for same-sex couples."

Buckley agrees: "A good committee chair would be focusing every testimony," he said. "This is not an inquisition about homosexual acts." Buckley, who is gay, is a former Democratic state representative from Manchester and an outspoken advocate of gay rights issues. The commission was created a year ago as part of a law barring recognition of out-of-state gay marriages. The board was charged with examining all state laws that would change if same-sex marriages or civil unions were allowed. New Hampshire's law defining marriage as a union between a man and woman will be scrutinized, but commissioners are also expected to look at child custody rules, inheritance statutes and other situations that married couples encounter. Yesterday was the board's third meeting, and the deadline for its report is December 1. Soltani has been late to two meetings in a row, arriving 45 minutes into yesterday's meeting, where both Buckley and Gould were participating. Shortly after Soltani walked in, Buckley raised his hand to speak. Soltani told him he wasn't allowed. "The chair has never determined the make up of a commission," Buckley said, while Soltani repeated, "You are out of order, you are out of order." The governor's office is not pleased with Soltani. "It's clear the chairman of this committee has run amuck and is ignoring the law and the attorney general," said Lynch spokeswoman Pam Walsh. "There are important issues, and we'd like them to get a serious hearing and not be dragged down by this." Soltani says he'd be happy to have Buckley participate as a alternate member and that the committee is hard at work. The committee will meet again soon, and members have been given nearly 2,000 pages of information to read, he said. "We haven't sat still," he said. "We've done our work."

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