Town Meeting: New Hampshire Continues to Say NO to Vote to Discriminate

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Concord, NH - More New Hampshire towns said no this week to the vote to discriminate - an attempt to pressure for passage of a constitutional amendment in New Hampshire that would allow a statewide vote on the definition of marriage.

Last night, the towns of Hanover, North Hampton and New Castle all rejected the vote to discriminate and instead affirmed equality and civil liberties as a proud New Hampshire tradition.

The non-binding town meeting resolutions - circulated by Rep. David Bates and Rep. Al Baldasaro and supported by the National Organization for Marriage under the guise 'Let NH Vote' - originally read: 'The citizens of New Hampshire should be allowed to vote on an amendment to the New Hampshire Constitution that defines "marriage".' A petition of just 25 people in each town allows the resolution on the spring ballot.

North Hampton (SB 2) - Amended Let NH Vote's language during deliberative session to instead commend the legislature for supporting equality for all New Hampshire families.

Article 25: To see if the Town will vote to approve the following resolution to be forwarded to our State Representative(s), our State Senator, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate President. Resolved: the citizens of New Hampshire should commend the Legislature and the Governor for their stand on equality. PASSED 409 – 309

http://www.northhampton-nh.gov/public_documents/Election%20Results.pdf

Hanover (Traditional) - Let NH Vote couldn't collect enough signatures; Residents wrote own warrant article affirming marriage equality and condemning actions by Let NH Vote.

Article 23: To see if the Town will vote to affirm our state constitution's guarantee that all persons are "equally free and independent". We therefore strongly affirm the new marriage equality law, which promises equal freedom, dignity and respect for all our citizens. We also strongly condemn the efforts by some to repeal the new marriage law and enshrine discrimination in our constitution, all in order to deny our fellow citizens the fundamental right of equality to which we are all entitled. We direct the Board of Selectmen to report the passage of this warrant to the clerks of the state House of Representatives and the Senate, to each of our State Representatives, to our State Senator and to Governor Lynch. PASSED 141-6; with 9 abstaining

http://web.valley.net/files/hanovernh/TownMtgVotingResults.pdf

New Castle (Traditional)- Republican Rep. Will Smith, reading the writing on the wall, tabled his own resolution before the town could affirm his anti-gay votes hadn't represented them.

Former Rep. Dan Hughes, who was the lead signer on the petition, failed to show up. He asked current Rep Will Smith, who voted against equal marriage rights, to read a letter at the town meeting. He asked for a vote to indefinitely postpone. TABLED, VOICE VOTE

http://bluehampshire.com/diary/9933/discrimination-fails-yet-again

"It continues to be clear that marriage equality has strong support in the Granite State," said Zandra Rice Hawkins, director of the organization Granite State Progress which is running the education campaign to expose the vote to discriminate. "In town after town this spring, Granite Staters have stood up and said no to discriminating against their neighbors. We're even seeing some of the state representatives who had voted against marriage equality finally realizing that they were not representing the views of their constituency. People in New Hampshire value equality for all families and it's time that anti-gay legislators and out-of-state groups like the National Organization for Marriage leave well enough alone."

Granite State Progress issued a report detailing the 'epic failure' of the Let NH Vote attempt after the majority of town meetings in New Hampshire. A final analysis is forthcoming following the final town meetings this week.

For more information about the town meetings last night, please contact:

Hanover: Representative David Pierce [# available from GSP]
New Castle: Burt Cohen or Bill Duncan [# available from GSP]
North Hampton: Gary Andres [# available from GSP]

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Granite State Progress is a progressive advocacy organization that addresses issues of immediate state and local concern. Granite State Progress works as a communications hub for the progressive community to provide a strong, credible voice in advancing progressive solutions to critical community problems.