NJ Marriage Equality

Last Thursday, January 7th, the New Jersey state Legislature voted against their bill on Marriage Equality. This particular vote was the culmination of a 2 and ½ month battle (though clearly the issue has been on the table for quite some time) between gay-rights advocates and their opponents.

It began with the commitment of out-going Governor Jon Corzine to sign the bill, if passed by both chambers of the state legislature, before his term expired on January 19th. After that point, the bill would go to in-coming Governor Chris Christie, an opponent of marriage equality who had vowed he would not sign it.

The Judiciary Cmt in the NJ General Assembly met on Jan 5th and did not take up the Marriage Equality proposal. This was 2 weeks after it had also been stalled in the Senate. Many elected officials stated they feared going on record in favor of what they considered “a controversial issue that would be defeated anyway”.

Gay and Civil rights advocates in New Jersey are regrouping to launch a new initiative that pairs individual legal cases and general education around the issue in order to set the stage for reintroducing legislation at a later date. It is likely we can expect to see the same happen in New York.