Londonderry Protects Equality

Current initiatives underway to repeal Marriage Equality law (HB 436) in NH:

• Let NH Vote (letnhvote.com): Conservative effort to pressure for passage of CACR 28 through non-binding town meeting resolutions stating: “The citizens of New Hampshire should be allowed to vote on an amendment to the New Hampshire Constitution that defines 'Marriage'.” Londonderry Rep. Al Baldasaro has been a leader in this state-wide movement. This is disguised as a "right to vote" issue; really, what it is saying is that we have the right to take away equal rights from minority groups.

• CACR 28 (Constitutional Amendment Concurrent Resolution) and House Bill 1590: Proposals to change our state constitution to remove the rights granted through HB 436, and make same-sex marriage illegal: “Providing that the state shall only recognize the union of one man and one woman in a marriage." Similar amendments were defeated in 2006 (under Republican leadership) and 2007 (under Democratic leadership).


Timeline of Events:

6/09: Gov. Lynch signs the bill (HB 436) which legalizes same-sex marriage in NH (after it passes in both the Senate and House of Representatives). The bill takes effect on 1/1/10, and replaces the civil union status for same-sex couples which had been in place since 2007.

1/1/10: Same-sex marriages start in NH.

1/4/10: ‘Let NH Vote’ issues press release regarding their intentions. Baldasaro submits a petition with 25 signatures to the Londonderry Town Council requesting that residents vote on marriage definition at the Mar 9th town election (similar actions took place at town halls across the state). Any citizen can bring something to the attention of a town council with a petition of at least 25 signatures. According to our town charter, for all non-budgetary items, the council will be responsible for making the final decision (this is unique to charter towns). Also according to our charter, an alternative decision process exists in which a petition must have 1% of registered voters (aprox. 170) in order for the council to actually make a decision. The Town Council informed Baldasaro to obtain this 1% of signatures before they make a decision.

1/18/10: Baldasaro submits a second petition (petition/signatures available here) to the Town Council which meets the 1% requirement. The next step in the process is to hold a Public Meeting before the Council can make a decision. A special meeting is scheduled for 2/1.

1/20/10: Baldasaro testifies before state judiciary committee, and based on offensive/hateful/untrue comments about same-sex couples, Muslims, and a legislature that "sold the rights of $10,000 per kid under title four, when they said that homosexual couples, not married, can adopt," is asked to resign. His response to Dem. leader Buckley: "Kiss my ass." Londonderry makes national news over the next few days. Video; MSNBC; WMUR

2/1/10: Special Public Meeting takes place. Town Council unanimously rejects petition. Baldasaro must now get 5% of registered voters signatures by February 6th for this to go to the March 9th ballot. Otherwise, he has until March 3rd, at which point a special election would be held just on this issue, costing the taxpayers more time and money (which Rep. Baldasaro promised he wouldn't do during the 1/4/10 town meeting when he proposed this petition).

2/6/10: Rep. Baldasaro drops off 904 signatures at chairman's house at 8:30pm.

2/8/10: Signatures reviewed, and found insufficient (duplicates and unregistered voters). Town Council members vote to put it on the ballot themselves to save taxpayers the cost of a special election.

2/17/10: Both CACR 28 and HB 1590 are rejected by the House ("Inexpedient to Legislate") by significant margins. Baldasaro promises to bring the issue back to the NH legislature in January 2011. Despite this rejection, we will still have this issue on our town ballot.

Next Step:

On March 9th, the citizens of Londonderry will vote on whether or not they would like to change our constitution to strip rights away from a group of citizens.

a) The town could vote that we are not interested in a public vote to change our constitution / discriminate.

OR

b) The town could vote that we are interested in a public vote to "define marriage."

EITHER WAY:

The results will be sent to our elected officials in Concord as a “sense of the community.” Given the wording of the question (essentially, "Do you want to vote on the definition of marriage?"), it is highly likely that the results would be, "Yes, we want the right to vote on the definition of marriage," which would be interpreted as saying that Londonderry residents are against same-sex marriage.
Note: The results will NOT change the new marriage law. What would be sent to Concord is a non-binding resolution. The ‘Let NH Vote’ people hope to use this “sense of community” to help push through another attempt at the repeal of HB 436, probably next January.

So….even if this goes to ballot, what is the point? Why is this group going through so much effort to push “voter rights” when voting will not directly change anything? (From this point on, it is opinion and speculation. But it is something to think about.)

• November elections are coming up. We believe that this particular group of conservatives hope to use the “sense of community" results to help elect anti-marriage equality leaders to our state government, thus giving them a better chance of eventually pushing through CACR 28 or House Bill 1590.

• The process for a constitutional amendment (which is pretty strict, as it should be) is that it would need to pass the senate with 3/5 majority, then the house with 3/5 majority, then the public with 2/3 majority. The chances of a constitutional amendment like this making it past the house and senate are slim to none. BUT conservatives will use this to point fingers at pro-marriage equality leaders saying “They denied you your right to vote on the definition of marriage!” This would help them out in the November elections.

• This is mostly about playing politics and they are deceiving people. It is NOT about “voter rights.” We have already settled the issue of marriage equality. We elected our representatives who represented us, and due process was followed, with house and senate votes/discussions and public hearings.

• "Let NH vote" is led by a group of people who want to discriminate against members of community because they do not think they are “normal" (that is Baldasaro's word - not ours!). It is hurtful and demeaning and should not be tolerated by our elected officials (unfortunately, this movement is being LED by some of our elected officials).


• This is a rare opportunity when speaking up matters; regardless of outcome. Even if this issue is put on our March 9 ballot, and even if Londonderry and other townships throughout the state vote for this non-binding resolution to send a message to state government, it is important to remember that this affects real people in a very real way. Many same-sex couples in our community are feeling (understandably) hurt and unwelcome. By standing up against discrimination, we are showing all of our neighbors that we will not support intolerance and ignorance; and that Londonderry respects its neighbors and community members.