Odds Against Marriage Equality In New Jersey Grow

1/5/10-by Paula Brooks
With the clock ticking on Marriage Equality in New Jersey, yesterday the Garden States Democratically controlled General Assembly Judiciary Committee refused to take up a proposal that would grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages in the state.

The Assembly speaker, Joseph J. Roberts Jr., declined to put it the marriage bill for a vote in Monday’s Judiciary Committee hearing, and said he would allow the Assembly to vote on it only if it first passed the Senate.

In December, New Jersey State Senate leaders postponed, a vote in the full Senate that would have made same-sex marriage legal in that state and said they wanted New Jersey’s Assembly Judiciary Committee to hear the bill first… as of this morning there appear to be no movement to schedule that committee hearing in the Assembly.

As recently as October, Democratic legislative leaders have given assurances to supporters of marriage equality in New Jersey, that the measure would be passed and enacted during the lame-duck session. However, after New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine lost soundly to Republican Chris Christie in November, many legislators who supported the bill now do not want to go on record casting a controversial vote if they fear the measure may be defeated.

While a hearing could be scheduled during this current session, under the rules of the assembly, legislators only have until the session ends Jan. 11 to pass the legislation in both houses or it dies and has to be reintroduced.

Out going the New Jersey Governor has promised he would sign a same-sex marriage bill should it make it to his desk, but his successor, Christie, has vowed he would veto the bill. That position by Christie would make it unlikely that a similar bill would have any chance of becoming New Jersey law, at least as long as Christie is in office

According to the New York Times…

Despite the growing odds against it, however, gay-rights advocates say they are still hopeful that they will win approval before the change of governors.

At a rally on the State House steps Monday afternoon, more than 150 demonstrators voiced equal measures of frustration and resolve, saying that Democratic legislators who had pledged to pass the bill would be held accountable if they reneged on their promises.“Either we will be able to march up the aisle and have marriage equality, or we will march across the aisle and have political independence,” said Steven Goldstein, head of Garden State Equality, which has led the lobbying effort…. via NYTimes.com.