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Gay NH couples ring in new year by marrying

By Gaveliers, The Gavel Media Team, on January 3, 2010 12:53 AM

At the start of 2010, same-sex couples in New Hampshire were able to wed, after the Legislature passed the bill in June 2009.

Since 2008, New Hampshire has granted civil unions, and those civil unions still valid in 2011 would be automatically considered marriages. But gay couples can speed up the process and file for marriage in 2010. The new law, however, does not grant gay couples any new rights.

Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Iowa currently allow gay couples to wed. California and Maine previously also granted them this right, but popular vote respectively banned gay marriage and overturned the law in those states. Washington, D.C.’s city council voted to legalize same-sex marriage, and the decision now goes to Congress.