Gay marriage to face vote in N.J. next week

TRENTON, N.J. (RNS) State lawmakers plan to consider a bill next week to legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey before a Republican governor-elect, who opposes it, takes office in January. “On Monday in the Judiciary Committee, we’re going to vote on marriage equality,” state Sen. Raymond Lesniak told dozens of gay-marriage supporters at a rally […]

TRENTON, N.J. (RNS) State lawmakers plan to consider a bill next week to legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey before a Republican governor-elect, who opposes it, takes office in January.

“On Monday in the Judiciary Committee, we’re going to vote on marriage equality,” state Sen. Raymond Lesniak told dozens of gay-marriage supporters at a rally outside the Statehouse. “On Thursday, the full Senate is going to vote on marriage equality. And God be willing, we’ll have 21 votes.”

Outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Gov.-elect Chris Christie says he will not, leaving the measure’s best chance for passage in the lame-duck Legislature’s hands.


The head of the judiciary committee, Sen. Paul Sarlo, expects the bill to clear the panel by a slim margin. But lawmakers say supporters face a tough fight getting the 21 votes needed for the bill to pass the full Senate.

The bill also must clear the state Assembly before reaching Corzine’s desk. It has not even moved out of committee there and no vote has been scheduled.

Orthodox Jewish groups who rallied outside the Statehouse here said are “being subject to government coercion of the worst form and our very religious liberties are at stake,” said Rabbi Noson Leiter of Torah Jews for Morality.

Supporters are trying to make New Jersey the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, the New York Senate rejected similar legislation, and Maine voters last month opted to repeal a new law allowing gay couples to marry.

“I felt a surge of hope and a bit of pride that our work — and prayers — have brought us thus far,” the Rev. L.L. DuBreuil, pastor of the Faith United Church of Christ in Union, N.J., wrote in an e-mail.

“It is the culmination of more than six years of work and a lifetime of work for social justice. We are convinced that the few senators who are `on the fence’ will vote for this historic legislation.”


John Tomicki of the Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage said, despite renewed support to move the bill, lawmakers still are on his side.

“I’m very confident that if they get it out of committee, which I think they can, and they post it for a vote in the Senate … what happened in New York will happen here,” he said. “They have not the votes to pass it.”

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