Email from New Hampshire

A reader writes:

"I'm a conservative (and editorialist/reporter) from New Hampshire who covered the same-sex civil marriage issue for my community newspaper. As a matter of fact, I was present at one of the lengthy public hearings held throughout the state. A raucous affair!

As such, let me tell you and your readers this: this amendment never had any chance of passage from the start, for political "inside pool" reasons as well as our "Live Free or Die" motto. The widely-held view by state legislators (off the record, of course), was that the committee's recommendation of an amendment to ban gay marriage was more indicative of the committee chair's views than a general consensus of what the state felt on the matter. In fact, I know of more than one legislator who drifted from the committee for precisely those reasons.

So it's no surprise it got voted down roundly by the State House. New Hampshire has been - and will continue to be - a libertarian state. We hate taxes (no sales or income tax here!), we hate big government (we trust it to plow roads, and that's about it), but we don't hate each other. Gays and lesbians are too much a part of our social fabric - our friends, family, neighbors, and yes, politicians - for this ridiculous constitutional ploy to have had any chance. In response to your post, then, I'm not sure if this marks "a turning tide," as the tide was never flowing in favor of the amendment. At least not here.

This is the type of Republicans we are, Andrew, and this is the type of Republicans we will remain, theocons or no!"

Keep hope alive.