New Hampshire’s Gov. Lynch made it clear from beginning to end that he personally favored civil unions over marriage equality. But he also made it clear that he respected the legislative process and his role in governing *all* of the people. And he never said he wouldn’t sign a bill. So after extra religious protections were added to the state’s legislatively-approved marriage bill — protections designed to appease people like the National Organization For Marriage and ones that actually dismayed many equality activists, who found them unnecessary — Gov. Lynch signed it into law. There is absolutely no disconnect between what he said and what he did!
But NOM and their NH allies at Cornerstone Policy Research refuse to think critically about this matter, instead continuing to make it sound like Lynch’s willingness to respect the legislative process equates to some great betrayal:
Looking beyond same-sex marriage: The whole ad is election year politics at its worst. If you look at the individual quotes, you will see that all the juxtapositions are misleading, false, or completely anti-intellectual. For instance the parole issue (conveniently positioned right before the gay part): The ad compares a statement from Lynch’s spokesperson about the bill then compares it with one parole board members’ comments about one specific parolee. Plus NOM/Cornerstone completely overlook that the bill in question, SB 500, had MAJOR bipartisan support, passed the state House 256-57, was supported by onetime state Attorney General and current GOP candidate for U.S. Senate Kelly Ayotte, was endorsed by the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police and Victim Advocates, and was crafted after detailed examination from a whole host of (nonpartisan) law enforcement professionals. In fact, looking over the record as we just did, the controversy seemed primarily drummed by the state’s conservative newspaper The Union-Leader — incidentally the very paper that NOM/Cornerstone uses to back all of their claims!
Oh, and if the reductive smears weren’t enough: NOM/Cornerstone can’t even get basic dates right:
WRONG:
ACTUAL:
So perhaps you kids should save your “change,” NOM/Cornerstone. Then maybe then these shots will stop looking so cheap.
