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Politics & Government

Update: NJ Assembly OKs Same-Sex Bill; Christie Promises Veto

With Gov. Christie promising an immediate veto to same-sex marriage legislation, Collingswood Mayor Maley says same-sex couples need stronger protection under the law.

The New Jersey Assembly passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriages Thursday, sending the 42-33 vote to Governor Christie's desk for a likely veto.

The governor, an opponent of gay marriage, promised "very swift action" if the bill passed both houses of the Legislature. The Senate approved the bill, the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act, Monday in a 24-16 vote.

Before the vote, gay rights marriage activists already were bracing for a fight.

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“Things are looking good, but we don’t take anything for granted,” said Steve Goldstein, chair and CEO of Garden State Equality, an advocacy group that claims it is the largest civil rights organization “of any kind” in New Jersey.

“All this talk about the vote passing as a given would be foolish,” Goldstein said Wednesday in a telephone interview with Collingswood Patch. “We are not complacent and we run every day as if we were behind.”

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That fight will include a move to overturn Christie's expected veto.

The governor has a complicated stance on same-sex marriage. Although he says he understands that his Roman Catholic faith labels homosexuality a sin, he personally believes sexuality is a biological imperative and not a choice.

“For me personally, I don’t look on someone that’s homosexual as a sinner,” Christie told Piers Morgan of CNN in a June 15, 2011, interview.

“I believe marriage is an institution between one man and one woman,” Christie said in that interview, adding that he is nonetheless “in favor of making sure that homosexual couples have the same type of legal rights that heterosexual couples have.”

If Christie stands his ground, Goldstein said, state legislators would have a two-year window to muster enough votes to override his veto.

“When a chief executive vetoes a bill, the legislature then has a chance to vote again by a supermajority,” said Goldstein. “In New Jersey, it’s two-thirds of each house, [and] then the bill becomes law.”

Christie has offered several times to take the case directly to the people, although Goldstein points out that New Jersey does not require a public referendum process for deciding such issues.

"If the public supports it, we should put it on the ballot and let the people decide it," Christie said. "It's an exercise in theater. I've been clear on this issue and I've given them an alternative."

While most Republicans have taken the same stance, the Senate passed the bill on Monday with help from Republicans Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) and Diane Allen (R-Burlington), who crossed the aisle, securing a wider margin.

Most Democrats say gay marriage should not be subject to a referendum because it is a civil right protected by the Constitution.

But Christie dismissed that notion Thursday.

"I trust the people New Jersey to be fair. They don't. That's the fundamental difference," he said.

What would actually happen during a voter referendum is unclear. This week, the Rutgers Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling reported that voters in New Jersey “support legal recognition for same-sex marriage.”

“NJ vote[r]s don’t care very much about the issue—it is not considered even very important by a large majority. BUT, those who support marriage equality are much more likely to call it an important issue than are those who oppose it,” read the Eagleton Poll blog on Valentine’s Day.

Collingswood Mayor James Maley believes a statewide same-sex marriage law is necessary because the current legal protections afforded same-sex couples are insufficient.

Maley is a signatory to Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, a pledge drafted by the Freedom To Marry national lobby, which describes its mission as “to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and the protections, responsibilities, and commitment that marriage brings.”

“From the reports that I’ve read, legal documents outside of the state don’t recognize them,” Maley said. “This isn’t [about] dealing with how any god views it. To me it’s a basic matter of equality under the law.”

That Maley has officiated same-sex civil unions in Collingswood since 2006 is a distinction Wikipedia editors have deemed worthy of inclusion on the borough page. He recollects how stories told by some of the couples he’s unified have affected him deeply.

“One couple had two sons, and they had to each adopt one of the boys,” Maley said. “If something happened, they would have no [parental] rights.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.

Additional reporting by Giovanna Fabiano.

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