The bills open marriage to same-sex couples starting Jan. 1 and protect certain rights of religious organizations, associations and societies that oppose gay marriage.

”Today is a historic day for all Granite Staters,” said Mo Baxley, executive director of the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition. ”We applaud Gov. Lynch, (House) Speaker (Terie) Norelli, (Senate) President (Sylvia) Larsen and the leadership of the General Court (legislature) for making sure that all loving, committed couples have the freedom to marry. Today, our shared values of individual liberty, freedom and fairness have been upheld.”

The final bill, tweaking religious protections, passed the Senate 14-10 and the House 198-176. Lynch had required the additional language as a condition of his agreeing to let gays marry.

In announcing his support for same-sex marriage on May 14, Lynch said: ”At its core, (this bill) simply changes the term ‘civil union’ to ‘civil marriage.’ Given the cultural, historical and religious significance of the word marriage, this is a meaningful change. I have heard, and I understand, the very real feelings of same-sex couples that a separate system is not an equal system. That a civil law that differentiates between their committed relationships and those of heterosexual couples undermines both their dignity and the legitimacy of their families.”

The measures signed into law will repeal the state’s civil-union law effective Jan. 1, 2011, and prohibit any new civil unions after Jan. 1, 2010.

Same-sex marriage is legal in five other U.S. states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (starting in September) and Maine (starting in September). There also are 18,000 same-sex couples legally married under California law, though no more will be allowed to marry until voters repeal Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment passed last November, or until the U.S. Supreme Court strikes it down or it is blocked by court injunction. Gay groups are planning a ballot initiative to delete Prop 8, and a federal lawsuit has been filed charging that Prop 8 violates the due-process and equal-protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit also says Prop 8 relegates gays and lesbians to second-class citizenship and discriminates based on gender and sexual orientation. It further seeks an injunction allowing same-sex marriage to resume in California pending resolution of the case.