Graceless Granite

New Hampshire's commission to study marriage/SSM/civil unions tromped (10 to 2) on a motion to permit gay unions of one sort of another. This is in addition to previously recommending a DoMA amendment.

The local papers have ignored it, running parochial snippets. However, the AP has a decent report, covered here by ABC news.

Openly gay commission member Ed Butler made a motion to permit same-sex marriage. The 10-to-2 vote effectively urged the legislature not to do that, not to recognize out-of-state (which is to say, Massachusetts marriages or Vermont civil unions) and not to set up a domestic partnership registry.

Vindictiveness and schadenfreude, thy names are Republican.

In making his motion, Butler said, "My hope is before I die I will be able to approach a justice of the peace in the state of New Hampshire and be legally married." The commission, in effect, returned a huge, "Who cares?"

The color in the AP article illustrates the emotional drive to prevent SSM:

Many of the New Hampshire panel's meetings have been marked by conflict, and Monday's was no different, with an argument between the chairman and another member escalating into a shouting match.

The dispute was sparked when the member accused the chairman of using homophobic slurs against an openly gay panelist.