New Hampshire, Final New England State Set To Legalize Same-Sex Civil Unions

New Hampshire, Final New England State Set To Legalize Same-Sex Civil Unions

The champagne is on ice at the Notchland Inn on Route 302. Proprietors and longtime partners Ed and Les are ready to raise their glasses to New Hampshire later today when the state is set to pass a broad civil union bill granting gay and lesbian couples virtually all the same legal rights as married heterosexuals.

Supporters and opponents of the measure agree that it will be approved, and last week Gov. John Lynch, a moderate Democrat, said he will sign it. When he does, it will make New England the first region to have every state granting a measure of legal rights to same-sex couples. Even as the bulk of the country has passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and civil unions, New England has stubbornly gone its own way.

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