TRENTON, N.J. (RNS) With same-sex marriage legislation defeated in the state Senate, Gov. Chris Christie on record opposing it, and a proposal to put the question to voters going nowhere fast, hundreds of supporters and opponents of gay marriage squared off Tuesday (July 20) to prepare for the next expected front in the battle: the state Supreme Court.
What originally was supposed to be a small rally by the National Organization for Marriage turned into competing protests after Garden State Equality, the state’s largest gay rights organization, brought in a larger crowd to counter it.
National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown said his group stopped in New Jersey as part of its 19-state bus tour because he was afraid the state would legalize gay marriage by judicial fiat.
“How can you think that it’s right for a few judges to say (voters) don’t count?” asked Brown. “Bow down to your robed masters. We’re going to make the decision.”
In March, six same-sex couples who formed civil unions asked the state Supreme Court to grant them the right to marry. They argued that the state’s 4-year-old civil union law did not provide them the equal rights with heterosexual married couples the court mandated in 2006. The court has not yet decided whether it will hear the case.
Speaking to about 80 opponents of gay marriage in front of the Statehouse, Trenton Catholic Bishop John M. Smith of the Catholic Diocese of Trenton said same-sex marriage “is not marriage.”
“There are many ways and reasons to protect human rights. Sacrificing marriage is certainly not one of them,” he said.
A bill proposing a constitutional amendment to only recognize marriage as “the union between one man and one woman” has been introduced repeatedly in the Legislature since 2006 but has failed to gain traction.
A larger crowd of gay marriage supporters packed a room where they heard from same-sex couples and their children.
“We have a different message from our opponents today. Outside is a message of hate and prejudice,” said Garden State Equality chairman Steven Goldstein.
