Gregg, Sununu, break with party on gay marriage vote

CONCORD, N.H. --New Hampshire's Republican two senators broke with their party Wednesday to vote against a Bush-administration backed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, with Sen. Judd Gregg changing his position from a similar vote two years ago.

Gregg and Sen. John Sununu were among seven Republicans who voted against advancing the measure to a yes-or-no vote. It had been widely expected the measure would fail to secure the 60 votes needed to advance; the final vote was 49-48 to continue.

New England Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island also voted no. The others were Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., who also changed his vote from 2004, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

While emphasizing that marriage should be restricted to heterosexual couples, Gregg hinted recent events in New Hampshire's Legislature influenced his change of heart.

"The past two years have demonstrated that New Hampshire, like 44 other states that prohibit same-sex marriage, is best equipped to protect traditional marriage from legal actions elsewhere," he said in a statement. "Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts has not reshaped the definition of marriage in New Hampshire."

In March, House lawmakers defeated a proposal to amend the state's constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Though state law bans same-sex marriage, amendment supporters believed a change was needed to prevent the courts from intervening, as happened in Massachusetts, where gay marriage became legal two years ago.

Sununu, who opposes gay marriage, repeated his 2004 vote. He called an amendment unnecessary until a challenge to laws banning same-sex marriage arises.

"As long as these protections remain the law of the land, an amendment to the Constitution is unnecessary," he said in a statement. "If activist judges force states to recognize nontraditional marriages endorsed by other states, I will support legislation that returns this power to the people as the framers of our Constitution so clearly intended."

Gay marriage activists in New Hampshire applauded the senators' votes.

"All of New Hampshire can be proud of their senators today," said Mo Baxley, executive director of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry, which organized opposition to the amendment proposal in the state Legislature. Still, she was angry the Senate had revisited the issue at all.

"I'm angry as an American that people are not more respectful of the Constitution and that they use it for political pandering," she said. Republicans had hoped a strong showing would shore up voter support before Election Day.

But in New Hampshire, social conservatives predicted Wednesday's results would have the opposite effect for Gregg and Sununu, though neither faces re-election in 2006.

"Very definitely, I won't vote for either one," said Nashua Republican Michael Balboni, sponsor of the New Hampshire amendment legislation. "You can't say on the one hand you're for traditional marriage and then use the three letter word 'but.'"

Karen Testerman, director of Cornerstone Policy Research, a state anti-gay marriage group, agreed.

"I'm quite sure that when it comes time to re-elect the senators ... that they are going to have some problems."

But with campaign thoughts years away for both senators, political analysts doubt the issue will stick. Dante Scala, a political scientist at Saint Anselm College, said Gregg and Sununu's votes were in keeping with New Hampshire's libertarian tendencies.

"New England Republicans and New Hampshire Republicans tend to be less sympathetic toward the social-conservative wing of the party and more inclined toward a states-rights, civil-libertarian type of conservatism," he said.

"Gregg is too far out to even think of any kind of threats, (with) Sununu, I think that battle's been won already," he said, pointing out Sununu defeated Bob Smith, a strong social conservative, in the 2002 GOP Senate primary.