New Hampshire legalizes same-sex ‘marriage’

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire has become the latest state to legalize same-sex “marriage,” after Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, asked legislators for — and got — a version of the bill that included strong protections for individuals and institutions with religious objections to gay “marriage.”

 Lynch signed House Bill 73 the evening of June 3, shortly after the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed it on a 198–176 vote. Senators had already approved it as well as two other changes to state law that, taken together, extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples. Last year, New Hampshire began offering such couples civil unions substantially similar to marriage. The new marriage status will replace those unions.

 With the move, New Hampshire becomes the sixth state in the nation with legalized gay “marriage” — and the third to approve it legislatively — following Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Maine.