Janson Wu, staff attorney of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, on his testimony supporting New Hampshire's marriage equality legislation

02/06/09 GLAD blog: Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is "a public interest legal organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status, and gender identity and expression," with advocacy based in New England. In this post, GLAD staff attorney Janson Wu describes his experience testifying on 02/05/09 for New Hampshire's marriage equality legislation (and against a competing bill limiting state recognition of marriage to heterosexual couples.) Here is his statement to the New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee. Wu says:

"I was particularly eager in my testimony to counter some of the arguments from the other side and to illustrate, from GLAD’s extensive experience with both civil unions and marriage, how civil unions are not equal to marriage and instead impose real harms on same-sex couples and their families – from the lack of respect and recognition for civil unions, to the inability to access the 1,138 federal rights and protections that come with marriage only. "

Wu testified on another bill to protect transgender citizens from discrimination.

Maine and Vermont also have pending, marriage-equality legislation.