Picoult Defends NH Same-Sex Law

Best-selling author and New Hampshire native Jodi Picoult is joining ranks with Standing Up for New Hampshire Families, in defense of same-sex marriage. 

"I am also a mother. My eldest son attends Yale and carries a 3.9 GPA. He is fluent in four languages. He runs a youth theater program for underserved kids in New Haven, teaches ballroom dance, got a resolution passed in New Hampshire to endorse the use of reusable grocery bags and last summer, he spent his time teaching math and Arabic to underprivileged students at Breakthrough Manchester. He is also gay, but that is by far the least interesting thing about him," said Picoult in a statement published on the group's web page.

"I’d think a young man with so much promise and civic engagement is exactly the type of person we would hope to have settle down in this state — and yet, why would he come back home, when bills like this label him as a second-class citizen, and attempt to take away his right to marry someone he loves, Picoult said.  “Prejudice is prejudice, no matter how fancy the language is,” says Picoult.

Picoult's announcement comes one day before New Hampshire State Rep. David Bates, R-Windham, rallies support for House Bill 437, which would repeal New Hampshire's same-sex marriage law, including civil unions. Bates is a primary sponsor of the bill.

As written, HB 437 would prohibit the following:

Marriages Prohibited; Men; Women.

I. No man shall marry his mother, father’s sister, mother’s sister, daughter, sister, son’s daughter, daughter’s daughter, brother’s daughter, sister’s daughter, father’s brother’s daughter, mother’s brother’s daughter, father’s sister’s daughter, mother’s sister’s daughter, or any other man.

II. No woman shall marry her father, father’s brother, mother’s brother, son, brother, son’s son, daughter’s son, brother’s son, sister’s son, father’s brother’s son, mother’s brother’s son, father’s sister’s son, mother’s sister’s son, or any other woman.

Bates invites others interested in "restoring traditional marriage" to the books to join him on the Statehouse steps Feb. 7 at noon.

On her Facebook Page, Picoult invites her "NH fans" to contact their legislators to say they oppose the repeal of New Hampshire's same-sex marriage law.