News :: GLBT
NJ Assembly won’t take lead on gay marriage billMonday Jan 4, 2010 Trenton, N.J. - The head of the New Jersey Assembly will ask lawmakers in his chamber to vote on a bill to legalize gay marriage only if the state Senate passes it first.
The decision, announced Dec. 31 by Joseph Roberts, a Camden Democrat who supports gay marriage, is the latest step in a tumultuous bid to get lawmakers to pass the law before Jan. 19, when a new governor takes office.
Advocates for the law say there is still a chance they will succeed, but Roberts’ decision to give the issue to the Senate shows that the push isn’t gaining much momentum at a crucial moment. With neither the Assembly nor the Senate ready to take a vote, the bill is, in the words of one Senate leader, "in limbo at best."
Five states -- Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont -- recognize same-sex marriage. A similar bill is also pending in Washington, D.C. Most states have constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage.
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill on Dec. 7 after an emotional seven-hour public hearing, with gay couples and their supporters weighing in on one side and those who oppose gay marriage for moral and religious reasons on the other.
A vote in the state Senate was scheduled for three days later. But before it could happen, the bill’s sponsors reversed course and said they wanted the Assembly to consider the measure. Though there was never a vote in the full Senate, the abrupt about-face indicated that it was not likely to pass.
Roberts, who is retiring from the Assembly when his term ends Jan. 12, said he didn’t want to hold another hearing in the Assembly because all sides have been publicly aired. He said he would bring it directly to the full Assembly for a vote -- but only if the Senate passes it first.
Sen. Ray Lesniak, a sponsor of the measure in the Senate, said he and co-sponsor Loretta Weinberg would ask Codey to put the bill to a vote on Jan. 7 "and fight like hell to get it passed."
"I think this issue deserves to be put up for a vote, and let the senators take a stand," said Lesniak, a Democrat from Elizabeth. "When that board opens, we hope the senators will search their souls and hearts and vote for marriage equality."
Senate President Richard Codey, a Democrat, said Dec. 31 that there still isn’t support in his chamber.
"It’s in limbo at best," he said.
Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said he wanted both houses to allow votes on the bill.
"In the meantime," he said, "we will continue to work day and night for victory soon."
Len Deo, president of the socially conservative New Jersey Family Policy Council, said that the bill becomes less likely to pass each passing day.
But he wasn’t going to celebrate victory yet.
"I’m going to celebrate on midnight Jan. 11," Deo said, referring to the day before the Legislature reorganizes. After that, the odds of seeing a bill passed would be much smaller.
Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat who support gay marriage, is being replaced on Jan. 19 by Chris Christie, a Republican who says he would veto the bill if it passes after he’s sworn in. - Angela Dellisanti & Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press
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