“However the governor wishes to couch his decision on this,” Smith said, “the fact remains that by signing this bill, he will have broken his trust with New Hampshire voters after repeatedly stating that he opposes gay marriage.”
Well, I guess perhaps he will be breaking the trust of those that oppose same-gender marriage…..however, a recent poll showed that 55% of NH voters support same-gender marriage. So, IMO, Lynch is doing the right thing and, is supporting the majority of NH citizens that support marriage.
Peace!

It sounds to me like he did the right thing.

Sounds like a decision any reasonable person can live with. Religions and churches are not impacted. All citizens are treated equally. What’s not to like about this?

dnitzer: “Sounds like a decision any reasonable person can live with. Religions and churches are not impacted. All citizens are treated equally. What’s not to like about this?”
Don’t worry, I’m sure the opposition will think of something.

On to what was once called the “Sink hole of religion” (Colonial Times, during the days of Roger Williams and his Girl, Anne) The Little Big State of Rhode island! Pagansister, are you ready for the news avalanche?

A compromise someone on either side will complain about I’m sure.

“violate their deeply held religious principles”
i challenge anyone to show me these so called deeply held principles. in essence they talking about rejection of fellowship, ignoring sincerity of heart, dishonoring another’s life experiences for the sake of their belief system. ” i believe this” “i dont believe that” we talking about deeply held principles
centered around the concept and identity of i. where is the principal in that? where is the depth?
now i realize why the percentages for divorce among believers is the same as non believers.
the church(believers), those who are against gay marriage have consistently said that marriage was about having children. ” you cant procreate……….then you cant marry”
by standing on this belief, they denigate everthing the new testament says about the blessedness of this union. that it is about vows of fidelity, actively living out the second commandment of loving ones neighbor…………..,forsaking all others, living out giveness to another as in 1cor “each person’s body is the others”, putting another above oneself.
by being able to negate all this out of procreation and gender shows that in the church as with non believing society…………..marriage has become nothing more than a mechanism of social convenience or to use to support a belief system, to be dissolved when the convenience no longer exists or when it no longer affirms a belief system.
i never realized that marriage had fallen so low among believers.

Lynch is giving legalization of the right to marry, and is putting in writing that is all they get. These are intelligent, well-educated people, and they probably didn’t think that with the right to marry a party would be given to them to join organizations that have been off-limits to them or that the Mainline Churches would be out to invite them to a welcome new Married people of N.H., come join our coffee hr.. Sounds as though it will work out just fine.

john r: “being able to negate all this out of procreation and gender shows that in the church as with non believing society…………..marriage has become nothing more than a mechanism of social convenience or to use to support a belief system, to be dissolved when the convenience no longer exists or when it no longer affirms a belief system”
I’m a non-believer, but I don’t see marriage as a “mechanism of social convenience”. Why do you guys assume that about us anyway? Is there some statistic about divorce and non-religious couples I don’t know about?

Henrietta,
Though the UCC was once a mainline church, and now is more of a sideline denomination, our heritage and traditions are still venerable. We CERTAINLY go out of our way to welcome all people – including LGBT folks. So ya’ll come on in. Maybe not every UCC congregation will be LGBT friendly and welcoming, but the vast majority of us is. Give some of us a try and you may be well surprised!

The lack of insight and intelligent observation in many of these posts is only exceeded by the lack of grammatical structure and basic spelling rules.

I am certain that one of the homosexual agendas is to attack the church and if laws are put in place to facilitate those attacks they will come fast and furious.

cknuck: “I am certain that one of the homosexual agendas is to attack the church and if laws are put in place to facilitate those attacks they will come fast and furious.”
Thanks for proving me right. Unfortunately, this is one of those times I’d rather have been proven wrong.
It doesn’t matter how much protection we give them or how many times we promise we’re not going to do this and that. The fact is they don’t want us to have this, and they’ll say or do whatever it takes to keep it from us.
Windsors Child: “Ha ha, u guyz r stupid, LOL.”
WC, grow up.

As in the general pop. of the U.S. among heterosexuals, all denominations of churches exist, among all the homosexuals all denominations of churches exist, so Ck, an agenda against churches??? Like President Roosevelt said, there is nothing to fear except fear itself.

ck, why would you believe that right wing canard while ignoring the fact the right wing is thickly populated with racists?

mordred 08
“Is there some statistic about divorce and non-religious couples I don’t know about?”
they are exactly the same …………………50%. marriage went from being a survival necessity to a social convenience. women no longer need men to survive financially or socially. actually, if anything, it is the men who have become socially and financially needy, because of the transformation of the economic base in this country.
the point is that believers have a scriptural basis or reason to look at marriage differently, which their position on gay marriage shows they are either ignorant of or chose to totally ignore.

nnmns maybe it is because I lean to the right and I know that left wingers are every bit as racist or more and and actually do less for people of color but more for the homosexual causes

As long as the churches will not be effected, I see nothing wrong with this. If the rest of the country does as N.H. does, I don’t see how anyone can complain. No church will be forced to accept gay marriage and everyone will have federal and state marriage benefits regardless of who you want to marry. Everyone wins!

Michael Jones-
But, churches will be effected!
Those churches that have been forced to go against their teachings by not performing same-gendered marriages will now be able to following the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are UCC’s, MCC’s, UU’s, etc that have already scheduled several same-gender weddings.
Peace!

jestrfyl,
I’m currently “on the road” and haven’t heard about “home”. Is my little state going to finally “do the right thing?”. Would be so nice to have that happen!!
YES! Good for NH. This is as it should be. Perhaps it won’t be long when the entire USA will truely be “equal” for all it’s citizens.
As to the folks worried about churches being forced to marry those they don’t want to? No one is going to do that. There are plenty of religions, some mentioned above, who have “seen the light” of the creator and do marry homosexuals now.

Really, people? Of course churches will be expected to perform marriages, otherwise they will be guilty, AGAIN, of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The “church” has been against every social equality movement in American history, regardless of who in those movements was a member of which christian denomination or not. Everything that applied to interracial marriage applies here.

Sorry to differ with you David interracial marriage is still in the arena of one man one woman same sex is something altogether different. If you want me to name some of the differences I can very easily

JohnQ, quote, “But, churches will be effected!”
As I stated before homosexuals have targeted the church and all they need is a law and it will be one attack after another until they succeed in changing the church to follow their will instead of God’s will.

ck,
“I am certain that one of the homosexual agendas is to attack the church”
Then you are ‘certain-ly’ wrong. You constantly seem to forget the many gay (and gay-supportive) people here that are members of “the Church” (TM).
DavidKCMO,
“Of course churches will be expected to perform marriages, otherwise they will be guilty, AGAIN, of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”
You mean still not “again”. But, you are wrong. No church will be “expected” to perform them, anymore than the Catholic Church is “expected” to marry non-Catholics or divorced people.
“The “church” has been against every social equality movement in American history”
Very true.
“Everything that applied to interracial marriage applies here.”
Which disproves the ‘theory’ that churches will be expected to perform SSMs, since no church is “expected” to perform inter-racial marriages (well, maybe the Christian churches will be expected to, what with the love-thy-neighbor-as-thyself commandment). Which, of course contradicts so much of what cknuck types …
“interracial marriage is still in the arena of one man one woman”
Used to be 1 white man and 1 white woman only, in America. (In fact, there was a time in the land I live in when black folk were not permitted to marry – at all!) You must be glad that changed. Why be surprised when we are glad yet another unjust restriction to marriage comes tumbling down.
“As I stated before homosexuals have targeted the church”
It was wrong when you first typed it, and it’s still wrong now.
“all they need is a law and it will be one attack after another until they succeed in changing the church to follow their will”
Yeah, r-i-i-i-g-h-t! Just like the Catholic church got ‘changed’ and is now forced to follow the will of non-Catholics and divorced people. No wonder your side is losing. All you seem to be able to do is continually bear false witness.

husband it’s not about because you said so but if you are going to insist on saying so please do it in less words and save some space for actual facts.

Nothing I typed depends upon me saying it’s so, because everything I typed is so. You could look it up.

Haven’t figured out just why some folks are so sure that all of a sudden those churches, who can still pick and choose who they will marry, are so concerned that that will end. There are some other places (justices of the peace, judges, notary publics) that marry folks….so there is still a choice…church or other religious institution, or not. Same gender marriages have no effect on anyone except those involved….never fear, folks, the world if really NOT coming to an end because states are slowly recognizing SS marriages. Love is Love…consenting adults are entitled to marry those they love, no matter what the gender combo.

quote: “”It will make clear that they cannot be forced to act in ways that violate their deeply held religious principles,” Lynch said of the proposed law. “If the legislature doesn’t pass these provisions, I will veto it.”
JohnQ, quote, “But, churches will be effected!”
Please try to keep up people and actually read the article and comments before responding other wise it makes you look, well….