From near death to revival, a plan to legalize same-sex marriage in New Hampshire just won’t go away.
The state Senate agreed Wednesday to negotiate a compromise with the House on protections for religious institutions and their workers. Governor John Lynch says he must have those protections to sign a same-sex marriage bill.
Last week, the House fell two votes short of passing the protections. Opponents are lobbying Lynch to veto the same-sex marriage if the bill reaches him.
Meanwhile, the Senate defeated a Republican effort to put the question to voters in a nonbinding referendum. Democrats argued New Hampshire isn’t a referendum state and pointed to court rulings rejecting past attempts to hold them. Republicans say that the court rulings dealt with binding referendums.