When the citizens of New Hampshire woke this past November 3rd they found that they had elected Republicans in unprecedented numbers to their state legislature. Although both Houses of that legislature had previous been majority Democratic, the next legislature would have a Republican supermajority in both houses able to enact any law they wished and to override a veto by the Democratic Governor.
At least two bills have already been introduced undoing marriage equality in New Hampshire, and by legislative rules, votes must be taken on these bills at some point in the next two years. Until just recently most political junkies expected the New Hampshire GOP to move quickly on one or another of these bills, and no one was optimistic that the votes were yet there to sustain the Governor's veto, especially without time to organize opposition.
But in an unexpected yet welcome development yesterday, the leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Representative DJ Bettencourt, said that
... he will ask that the fight to repeal gay marriage be postponed until 2012... he will ask the committee responsible for the repeal bill to retain it until next year."