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Gay Marriage Passes 24-16 In New Jersey State Senate
By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 13, 2012
Modified Feb 13, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 13, 2012
Modified Feb 13, 2012
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And the complicated position that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has put himself in gets more complicated. Today the New Jersey State Senate voted 24-16 to legalize gay marriage in the Garden State and the bill is expected to pass again in the State Assembly on Thursday. But despite popular support for marriage equality in his state Christie, presumably eying future national elections, has vowed to veto the bill—meaning no gay nups on the Shore just yet.
Christie has gotten himself into some hot water in recent weeks pushing for marriage equality to be voted on by referendum (you recall the bit where he implied blacks' voting rights should have been decided by Southern white voters before he kind of took it back?). The thing for Christie is that though New Jersey doesn't seem to mind seeing married homosexuals (52 for, 42 against in a recent poll), Republican voters nationally do. Since Mitt's man Christie doesn't want to be the GOP governor who signs it into law he's pushing for a referendum.
The Democrats, however, aren't interested in putting the issue to a popular vote. "We should not be in the business of legally sanctioning homophobia," Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), a sponsor of the bill, said before adding that legislators were elected to lead, "not to abdicate leadership and cut and run when the job gets hard."
Still, supporters are optimistic that marriage for all will come to New Jersey soon enough. One good sign? In today's vote two Republicans voted against the grain and supported letting gays wed. That leaves the Senate just three votes short of the 27 votes needed to override a Christie veto.
Tagged
Chris Christie
gay marriage
marriage equality
new jersey
Garth Johnston
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