Thursday, June 04, 2009

Passed

New Hampshire has finally passed its same-sex marriage law. IMHO its fatally flawed, with an "except for gays" exemption to state anti-discrimination law which goes beyond allowing churches to refuse to marry same-sex couples to allowing widespread homophobic discrimination in the provision of housing or other services by religious groups. But I guess overturning that is the next struggle. The context here is that the US still has no federal law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and state anti-discrimination law is usually weak - meaning that exemptions allowing the victimisation of specific groups aren't yet beyond the pale.

Rhode Island is now the only state in New England which does not allow same-sex marriage. Its people support equality. Its politicians do not. But elections next year will hopefully change that.