Former New Hampshire Attorney General and potential GOP Senate nominee, Kelly Ayotte, erroneously seen as a moderate, revealed her regressive policy stances on many issues in last night’s Senate GOP primary debate.

Particularly striking was her assault on gay families. Panelist Josh McElveen, introduced the topic of gay rights by asking the candidates:

“Should same-sex couples, in your opinion, have the same adoption rights as everyone else?”

Ayotte initially attempted to dodge the crux of the question, discussing her belief that marriage was a union between a man and a woman. But when pressed by the moderator, she landed on her simple, one-word answer:

“No.”

Watch the video.

Out of touch with New Hampshire

Candidate Ayotte promised back on June 5th to vote against any attempted repeal of the Defense of Marriage act, and offered her help in repealing last year’s state-level marriage equality. But Ayotte is not content to send New Hampshire back to early 2009. Ayotte’s wayback machine is set to 1998 or earlier. In 1999, the state House repudiated a NH law banning gay adoption by a vote of 226-130. Only one state in the Union still has such a ban–Florida–and that law is currently buckling under the weight of a Constitutional challenge.

Her positions are regressive, an assault on NH’s LGBT families and at odds with New Hampshire’s state motto: “Live free or die.” What American freedom is more precious than the right to build a family?

Last year, New Hampshire affirmed the validity of LGBT families, making history by passing marriage equality for our LGBT citizens by legislative action.

Paul Hodes has demonstrated his heartfelt support for marriage equality in the state of New Hampshire and also for the repeal of the “Defense of Marriage Act,” a crtical step for full Federal recognition of New Hampshire’s LGBT families.

Last year, in conjunction with a Blue America live blog appearance, Paul asked people, in lieu of campaign contributions to donate to the “No on 1” effort. That initiative fought to preserve marriage equality in the state of Maine.

Paul and Peggo Hodes’ support for “family values” does not come with *asterisks, qualifiers and disclaimers.

We asked Paul Hodes the same question:

“Should same-sex couples, in your opinion, have the same adoption rights as everyone else?”

His answer was equally succinct: “Absolutely.”

Elect Equality is a project of the National Stonewall Democrats. Join the Out For Paul Facebook page here. Donate to Paul’s account ActBlue account here.