newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

As the climax to a three-hour public hearing, the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday approved legislation that would legalize gay marriage in New Jersey.

The 8 to 4 vote along party lines took place in the Statehouse Annex before a large audience of about 350 same-sex marriage advocates and about 50 opponents.

Meanwhile, at a public meeting he held in Bridgewater, Republican Gov. Chris Christie signaled how he would react should the Democratic-controlled Legislature send him, as it plans to quickly do, a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. The governor said New Jersey voters should be allowed to decide the issue through a referendum on the November ballot.

“This issue that our state is exploring – whether or not to redefine hundreds of years of societal and religious traditions – should not be decided by 121 people in the Statehouse in Trenton,” Christie said. “The fact is we’re discussing huge change and I believe we need to approach this not only in a thoughtful way, not in a rushed way, but also in a way where we’re able to get the most input that we can from the public.”

Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), a member of the Judiciary Committee and a prime sponsor of the bill (S-1), quickly criticized Christie suggestion, saying gay couples in New Jersey should be given the equal right to marry that heterosexual couples enjoy.

“Marriage equality isn't like sports betting,” Lesniak said. “It's a civil right which is already guaranteed in our Constitution. It's up to the Legislature to guarantee these rights and support marriage equality for same sex couples.”

Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex) also criticized Christie's call for a referendum.

“Major issues of our time such as women’s suffrage and civil rights were rightly decided legislatively,” Oliver said. “We are elected by the people of New Jersey to protect civil rights. We do not pass on such tough decisions."

Polls show the majority of New Jerseyans have no problem with the legalization of same-sex marriage. Presently, the state permits so-called civil unions.

Should the “Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act, be approved in the state, New Jersey would become the seventh state to allow same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York have legalized it as have 10 countries, including South Africa, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. 

Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R-Somerset), who is also a committee member, sided with Christie. Bateman said he is willing to work with supporters and opponents alike to craft what he described as an unbiased and fair question on the issue in the form of either a Constitutional Amendment or statute enabled by referendum.

New Jersey Citizen Action, the state’s largest citizen watchdog organization, announced support for the bill.

“Part of our mission at New Jersey Citizen Action is to expand the rights of individuals and families,” Director Phyllis Salowe-Kaye said. “There is no issue more pressing right now to the rights of families in the state of New Jersey as S1, a bill that would ensure that every single citizen of this state who demonstrates love, commitment and honor to his or her partner is treated equally under the law.

“Right now, same-sex couples in this state are treated with the same ‘separate but equal’ mentality that plagued the United States before the civil rights movement,” Salowe-Kaye said. “The fact is that civil unions are simply not the same as marriage. Couples who have civil-unions are granted second-class benefits when compared to their married neighbors. While they may receive some state protections here in New Jersey, same-sex couples continue to be denied the over 1,000 federal protections offered to married couples. To try to justify that schism is to say to all the same-sex couples in this state that their love, honor, and commitment just isn’t good enough—that it isn’t equal—and that is unacceptable.”