We have to give credit where it is due. Speaker of the New Hampshire House, Gene Chandler is not historically what we’d call a conservative. But yesterday he used his vote to break two ties in the Legislature to kill bad bills.
The House deadlocked on two bills that would ban gay conversion therapy, requiring House Speaker Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, to cast tie-breaking votes that defeated both bills.
Related: NH House Considers Discriminatory Legislation That Could Also Silence Free Speech
Supporters of the ban argued that conversion therapy is a harmful, sometimes abusive, practice designed to change a young person’s sexual orientation or identity.
Opponents argued that parents have the right to seek whatever therapy they deem necessary for their children, and that abusive forms of conversion therapy have not been reported in New Hampshire.
The House bill (HB 587) failed by one vote, 166-165, after Chandler cast the tie-breaker.
The Senate version (SB 224) was defeated 170-169, again requiring Chandler’s vote to break a 169-169 tie.
I’ve said plenty about these sort of bills in the past, here and here so I won’t revisit that, at least until we have to think about this legislation again until…next session.
