Hate Crimes and New Hampshire Marriage in the Crosshairs

[Butterfly]

Hate Crimes and New Hampshire Marriage in the Crosshairs
SF Bay Times
By Ann Rostow
April 30, 2009


http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=10575


At some point before I finish this column, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the hate crime bill, and the New Hampshire senate will vote on the marriage bill that passed the state house last month.

I will refrain from my usual rants about wasting political capital on the hate crime bill, and join the rest of my beloved GLBT community in celebrating the impending passage of this legislation - the first pro-gay federal law in history. Of course it has to pass the Senate, but I think it will, don't you? Thank you, Arlen Specter.

I am far more intrigued by the New Hampshire marriage vote. Democrats have a 14-10 margin in the senate, but the marriage bill arrives on the floor with a 3-2 negative vote from the senate judiciary committee, and no one knows whether it can squeak through. If it does survive, it faces Governor John Lynch, who opposes same-sex marriage but who has not said anything about a veto.