U.S. governor seeks changes to gay-marriage bill

BOSTON (Reuters) - New Hampshire's governor asked state lawmakers on Thursday to revise a gay-marriage bill to increase legal protections for religious institutions opposed to gay marriage, and promised to sign it if the new version passes the legislature.

Both chambers of the Democrat-controlled state legislature approved a bill this year to legalize same-sex marriage and sent it to Governor John Lynch, who has expressed reservations.

"If the legislature passes this language, I will sign the same-sex marriage bill into law," Lynch said, referring to additional protections for religious groups. "If the legislature doesn't pass these provisions, I will veto it."

Lynch said Vermont and Connecticut, which have legalized gay marriage, put in place stronger measures to protect religious institutions than New Hampshire's bill offered.

The governor's suggested changes would make clear that religious groups would not be required to perform gay weddings if their beliefs prohibited it, and that they would not be held liable in court for refusing such services.

The language would also make clear that social groups and other organizations affiliated with religious entities did not have to provide benefits to gay couples.

Gay marriage, a major front in America's culture wars that opened in 2003 when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize it, has made big inroads in recent months.

Connecticut last year became the second state to allow it. In April, Iowa and Vermont followed suit. Last week, Maine's governor signed a gay-marriage bill. And on Tuesday, the New York State Assembly passed similar legislation.

If New Hampshire's lawmakers back Lynch's proposed changes, five out of six New England states will have passed legislation legalizing gay marriage, making tiny Rhode Island with its large Catholic population the only hold-out in the region.

That marks a significant shift from 1987, when New Hampshire outlawed same-sex marriages. In 2004, after Massachusetts' top court allowed gay couples to marry, New Hampshire passed a law that would not recognize gay marriages from out of state.

But elections in 2006 signaled a big political and cultural shift, giving Democrats majorities in both chambers of the legislature for the first time since 1874 in a state that was long a stronghold of moderate Republicans.

(Reporting by Jason Szep; Editing by Xavier Briand)