After two hours of debate, the New Hampshire State Senate killed a bill that would have made employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal.
The legislation was defeated in a 13-10 vote. Both supporters and opponents of the bill called on Christian ethics to forward their cause.
Proponents cited Christian teaching against discrimination, while opponents pointed to the Catholic Diocese of Manchester's rejection of the bill.
"If it's not Martin Luther King, it's civil rights -this was not one of the Senate's finest hours," said State Senate President Ralph Hough, R-Lebanon, who supported the bill.
Hough abstained since Senate presidents usually vote only if their ballot will sway the final outcome.
Senator Tom Colantuono, R-Londonderry, who opposed the bill, said he expected a narrower margin of victory. Colantuono described the debate prior to the vote as bitter.
"The proponents did not impress me as being good losers and it was not pleasant," Colantuono said. "I expect more from senators and I didn't get it today."
The current New Hampshire anti-discrimination law bars discrimination in employment and housing based on age, sex, color, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental disability, race and religious or political beliefs. The new legislation would have added sexual orientation to that list.
The same bill passed in the New Hampshire House Feb. 16. Following that vote, House members widely predicted the 24-member Senate would approve the bill.
"I think that having passed the house, a number of the senators were pressured to rethink their decision," Hough said.
New Hampshire Governor Steven Merrill opposed the bill from the beginning. Merrill said the current law already protects homosexuals under the section prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex.
Marcus Hurn, who heads the Citizens Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Rights in New Hampshire, said the pain of the bill's defeat was tempered by the refutation of the Governor's claims.
"No one affirmed the governor's position," said Hurn, who watched the entire debate.
"This all takes the sting out of today's loss," Hurn said.
On campus, people - many of whom expressed their anger in a rally outside Parkhurst Administration building Monday after College Trustees voted to keep ROTC at Dartmouth - expressed distress at the Senate's decision.
"I'm disappointed," English Professor Peter Saccio said. "When you ask me deep down inside, I don't know why they're scared of people like me."
Heather Searles '94 echoed Saccio's sentiments.
"I find the decision absolutely appalling and surprising," Searles said. "I'm deeply disappointed and I think it's a reflection of how entrenched homophobia is in society that queer people can't even get the most basic human rights."
Matt Berry '94, president of the Conservative Union at Dartmouth, said he would have voted against the bill.
"I think homosexuals should be treated like everyone else but I do not believe they should be given special rights within the law," Berry said.
Justin Heather '96, who plans to run for the New Hampshire House later this year, said the bill - which exempted those who could prove profound religious opposition to homosexuality - was too watered down to please anyone.
"It made too many exceptions and tried to satisfy too many people," Heather said. "The bill itself would be meaningless."
