SHOCKER: Marriage Equality Passes In New Hampshire Senate

This just in!

The New Hampshire Senate has approved a bill that would allow same-sex marriage in the Granite State. After surviving an early vote to kill HB 436, the bill passed the New Hampshire Senate Wednesday afternoon by a vote of 13 to 11. The Senate version of the bill made minor amendments to remove gender-specific language, so it will now go back to the House for a vote. Gov. John Lynch has said marriage is a word that should be reserved for the union of a man and a woman, but he has not said specifically that he would veto the bill.

Yesterday the progressive site Blue Hampshire forecast that the bill would fail by several votes.

Unbelievable victory!

Now Hampshire reports:

The House passed a similar measure last month by a 186-179 vote. The two chambers must reconcile small changes between the two measures in a conference committee but this is seen as a technicality. Senators were subjected to a blizzard of lobbying from gay rights groups in the days leading up to today’s vote. Lobbying efforts focused on a small handful of Democratic lawmakers who were seen as on the fence, including Senate President Sylvia Larson and Sens. Lou D’Allesandro, Betsy DeVries and Deb Reynolds. All but D’Allesandro voted in favor of the bill. Sen. Reynolds may face criticism from conservative and Republican circles, as she voted to kill the measure in the committee and switched her vote on the Senate floor. Sen. DeVries told constituents this weekend in voice mail recordings that she would vote against it, but she voted for it. Every Republican member of the state Senate voted against the bill.

Thanks to the work of LGBT activists, two Democratic Senators switched their votes at the last minute, giving us the win.