An effort to prevent recognition of same-sex marriages in the “Live Free or Die” state seems to be dead for the year after a Republican-controlled state House of Representatives failed to pass the measure, despite desperate last-minute attempts to make the bill more palatable to moderates by author Rep. David Bates.
The New Hampshire House of Representatives has defeated the bill with a vote of 133-202.
At stake first was the absurd amendment proposed by Rep. David Bates (R), which would have re-implemented civil unions and given voters a chance to weigh in on that decision in a non-binding way. That amendment failed 162-188.
Then, there was a parliamentary debate as to whether to consider a humorous amendment proposed by Rep. Seth Cohn (R) that would have prohibited marriage between people who are left-handed, but the effort to bring it forth was defeated.
During the debate on the bill as originally proposed, Bates and other opponents of equality invoked comparisons between same-sex marriage and incest while protesting when others juxtaposed the measure with the racial segregation of the past.
Three-term governor John Lynch had promised to veto the bill had it passed both majority-Republican chambers of the state legislature.
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