A compromise in the New Hampshire legislature has added exemptions to the state's same-sex marriage law – taking the language of Vermont's similar bill – allowing religious organizations to decline participation. The amendment stopped short of exempting all businesses, according to the Hartford Courant.
The language exempting religious organizations, borrowed from the statute that legalized same-sex marriage in Vermont, wasn't essential to protecting religious liberties, said state Rep. Beth Bye, D- West Hartford.
"But there were people who felt it needed to be there," she said at 11:15 p.m., moments after the measure passed in the House by a vote of 100-44.
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But both the House and Senate emphatically rejected expanding that circle of exemptions to include individuals and businesses such as florists and justices of the peace. To do so, they said, would be akin to enshrining discrimination in state statute.
