Hundreds Come Out for Marriage in NH

More than 600 people signed up to speak at a daylong hearing before the New Hampshire house judiciary committee on whether to rescind the state's marriage equality law, which has been in effect for nearly two years.

Most people at the Thursday hearing spoke in favor of marriage equality; speakers included some of the 1,300 couples who have wed in New Hampshire since the law was enacted, The Washington Post reports. Former state representative Ed Butler, who married his husband last spring, said it was critical to address the possibility of repealing the marriage equality law.

"We'll be here next year," he said. "We'll be here every year we need to be here until marriage equality is no longer an issue."

There are three total bills to repeal marriage equality: one to rescind the law, one to define marriage only for heterosexual couples, and one to establish domestic partnerships instead of marriage for same-sex couples. Republican representatives Leo Pepino and David Bates, sponsors of two of the bills, did not speak in detail about their legislation, but said the marriage law was passed in 2009 without "the consent of the people," according to the report. The vote on marriage equality may not take place until 2012, and while it has been indicated that Gov. John Lynch would veto the a repeal bill if it got to his desk, Republican supermajorities in the state house and senate could override his veto.