I want to thank Kevin H. Smith for his help in giving people of all sexual orientations more equality. Who is Kevin Smith? According to boston.com's article:
Kevin H. Smith, who led the in-state campaign against the bill as executive director of Cornerstone Policy Research, said Lynch had "broken his trust with New Hampshire voters."
Why am I thanking someone who opposed gay marriage? Because he's an idiot. He laid out the entire smoke screen, the blue prints, everything. Where? In that same article, on the second page.
"The folks who [they are] claiming to be protecting in this bill are already protected in the First Amendment by the freedom of religion," he said. "The folks who are not protected are your individual business owners, caterers, photographers, who now will be forced to provide these services for same-sex weddings."
same article page 2
Now last time I checked, in this economy, people were looking for work. Really really really looking for work. Now wouldn't it be a benefit to the state's economy if "business owners (florists, wedding bands, other wedding related businesses), caterers, photographers all got more jobs? Its not like there is a limit to the amount of marriages allowed in a state. Its not like if the constant is the amount of marriages total, X is gay marriage and Y is heterosexual marriage, Y+X=10, but Y=20. There aren't going to be LESS marriages, there will be (hopefully) more. Even churches would benefit. How? Some churches recognize gay marriage. Those that don't? (even though they would never be forced to, because of so many amendments) The law stipulates immunity to them for their bigo... I mean difference of opinion in whether or not sexual orientation is something they can discriminate against.
So all that talk about the gays killing religion, or killing marriage or forcing their churches to accept sanity, is crap.
The folks who [they are] claiming to be protecting in this bill are already protected in the First Amendment by the freedom of religion
Oh look, they're protected. And they admit it.
I honestly just tried to google up some ridiculous statements that the anti-equality crowd has made over the years about how gay marriage harms churches, but I had to stop. The sewage that I found... I don't want to share it. We have all seen it. If you haven't, you're lucky. If you want to, its not hard to find.
Update: I just want to clarify, I think that even if some how gay marriage did hurt the economy, let it. Having the ability to marry someone that you love is a right. Having a job based on hatred of others is not. So I'd gladly put out the industries of torture (if they existed) for human rights, even though it would hurt the economy... I suppose. And I would support gay marriage if it somehow hurt the economy, because rights are rights. That being said, as I have talked about above, it shouldn't hurt the economy, it should help it.