In a week of unprecedented movement toward the legal recognition of same-sex unions, it was encouraging to see that, like San Francisco and Massachusetts, New Hampshire is beginning a long-overdue conversation on the controversial subject of gay marriage. Unfortunately, rather than seeking a way to honor and respect people's commitment to one another regardless of sexual orientation, the state legislature is instead considering a bill that would amend state law to define marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." It would also take the added step of explicitly denying legal recognition to same-sex couples married in states where such unions could soon be legal.
In a state where freedom is so prized a virtue, it seems counterintuitive that the legislature would want to curtail what is perhaps one of the most important freedoms afforded to an individual -- to choose a partner and form a permanent and lasting relationship.
The forces that throughout the country are seeking to "protect" the institution of marriage are really doing nothing more than attempting to exclude those in perfectly healthy relationships from an already struggling institution, for reasons of bigotry and prejudice. Fortunately, like opponents of civil rights in the 1950s and '60s, these people will soon be seen as one of the last roadblocks in an inevitable move to a greater acceptance and legal recognition of gay marriage.
The tide is turning in this country, and Massachusetts and San Francisco are merely the first of many battlegrounds where this nationwide discussion will take place. It is tremendous that a country that a few decades ago would not speak openly about gays has let its brothers and sisters and parents and children out of the closet. Now it is time to take the next step.
New Hampshire need not venture in the opposite direction of progress. It will only be swept away in with the tide of inevitability.
