Same-Sex Marriage: Will New Jersey Do the Right Thing?

On Thursday, December 10th New Jersey’s State Senate has a chance to make a statement to the rest of the country by passing same-sex marriage legislation. Moving this piece of legislation expeditiously is vital in getting the Assembly to vote on the measure in time to send it to Governor Jon Corzine, who has said that he would sign the legislation, before he leaves office on January 19th. Corzine’s successor, Republican Chris Christie, has publicly stated that he would veto any legislation that approves gay marriage.

 

The quick passage of this legislation is also important in stemming the recent gay marriage setbacks in New York and Maine.  While I do not believe that the recent events in these states accurately reflect the feeling of the majority of people, they demonstrate the lengths to which opponents have gone in blocking equal marriage rights.  And, these same opponents are in full force in New Jersey. Over the past few weeks, groups like the National Organization for Marriage have funneled money into the Garden State and conducted a full frontal attack, including a robo-caller campaign, to get their message out. The Catholic Church has also been very engaged in the fight against marriage equality.  Patrick Brannigan, representing the Catholic Bishops of New Jersey, has been active in getting the church’s message out to all of the parishes, instructing their parishioners to contact their State Senators and voice their objection to this legislation.  What makes the actions of the Catholic Church and other faith-based organizations even more frustrating and perplexing is that there is an amendment added to the New Jersey legislation that specifically allows clergy to refuse to perform a gay marriage ceremony.

The marriage equality legislation just barely came out of the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 7–6. But, beware; this was not a party line vote. Quite disturbingly the Judiciary Chair Paul Sarlo and Vice Chair John Girgenti, both Democrats, voted no and have publicly said that they will vote no when the legislation is brought up for a full vote. These two Democrats joined with four Republicans to make up the six nay votes.  But one Republican, Bill Baroni, voted in favor of the legislation, and he should be commended for being strong enough to make the right vote and not succumb to party pressure.

While Loretta Weinberg, the sponsor of the legislation was successful in getting this out of the Judiciary Committee and to the floor for a full vote, the road ahead is precarious.  Senate President Dick Codey has promised to bring the legislation to the floor for a full vote on Thursday and we must hold him to that.  Still, it remains unclear what the vote looks like.  As we know from past votes on same-sex marriage in other states, when it comes time for legislators to step up and do the right thing, political pressure all too often intervenes and few elected officials do so.

So, now is the time for residents of New Jersey to step up by calling their Senators and telling them to vote in favor of gay marriage, not only because their vote rests on it, but also because it is the right thing to do.  Let’s all hope that New Jersey will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire as the states that had the courage to do what is right and respect the rights of gay and lesbians to marry.