A New Jersey Senate committee narrowly passed a bill this week that would legalize same-sex marriage in the Garden State, but legislators delayed a scheduled full Senate vote on the measure.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-6 to approve the “Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act” on Dec. 7. The legislation was expected to go to the full Senate on Thursday, but late Wednesday night, Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D), the prime sponsor of the bill, announced it had been taken off the agenda.
The legislation is now expected to move first through the Assembly, raising speculation that the bill did not have enough support to pass in the Senate.
Weinberg told the New York Times that the vote was not delayed because of a lack of Senate votes, but rather asserted that this week’s hearing had generated so much public interest that she wanted residents to be able to participate in another hearing in the Assembly before votes are cast.
“We think this is the fairest way to proceed, and anybody on the other side can say whatever they want to say,” she said.
A vote on the bill in the Assembly Judiciary Committee has not yet been scheduled.
Both chambers of the legislature must approve the bill and send it to the desk of outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine (D) by Jan. 19, his last day in office, to get his promised signature. Corzine was defeated by Republican Chris Christie, an opponent of marriage equality, last month, a development that mobilized both LGBT activists and adversaries.
The Senate committee vote did not go strictly down party lines.
Voting for the measure were Republican Sen. Bill Baroni and Democratic Sens. Nia Gill, Ray Lesniak, Nicholas Scutari, Bob Smith, Brian Stack and Loretta Weinberg, while Democratic Sens. Paul Sarlo and John Girgenti joined Republican Sens. Christopher Bateman, Jennifer Beck, Gerald Cardinale and Joseph Kyrillos in opposition.
There are 23 Democrats and 17 Republicans in the Senate, and the bill needs 21 votes to pass.
If the bill passes, it would also need approval in the Assembly, where it has not yet been scheduled for a vote in the Judiciary Committee. Some marriage-equality advocates suggest that if the legislation passes in the Senate, it has a very good chance of gaining success in the Assembly.
The seven-hour debate that preceded the vote, which didn’t take place until after 10 p.m., drew a reported 1,300 marriage-equality advocates and several-hundred opponents to the Statehouse in Trenton, 300 of whom were allowed into the chambers for the proceeding.
More than 150 people testified, with supporters running the gamut from Julian Bond, president of the NAACP — who called civil unions “separate but equal” and said LGBT rights are not “special rights” — to everyday New Jersey residents, like a 13-year-old girl who testified in support of her lesbian moms, and Lucy O’Brien, a mother of three who challenged the legislators to come to her house and tell her gay son that “he’s not good enough.”
“No one gets down on one knee and asks someone if they’ll please enter into a civil union,” O’Brien said.
The Rev. Manish Mishra, openly gay minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cherry Hill, submitted written testimony about the “legal, psychological and practical distinctions” between marriage and civil unions — which New Jersey has offered since 2006 — that create “harmful inequalities” for same-sex couples.
Religious leaders from a variety of faiths testified both for and against the measure and, before the vote, legislators approved an amendment clarifying that the bill does not require any clergy member to perform a same-sex marriage and that no religiously affiliated organization would have to participate in such unions.
Mishra said that Sarlo, the committee chair, said at the start of the hearing that it would be conducted in a professional manner.
“He made it clear that there would not be any tolerance for applause, expressions of support or dismay or anything like that,” the minister said. “So people didn’t clap, didn’t boo, which made for a very smooth hearing, but it wasn’t the type of charged energy that wouldn’t been there if there was cheering or applause allowed.”
Although the proceeding was professional, Mishra said the testimony offered by LGBT families did have a strong impact on the crowd.
“There were individuals who talked about not being able to see their partners in the hospital, the impact it’s had on their kids or not having the same status as other parents,” he said. “That testimony was really pretty emotive.”
Mishra added that some senators were vocal in their support for the bill, while others were “completely inscrutable.”
In the days before the vote, the New Jersey Catholic Conference delivered a petition with more than 150,000 signatures of people calling for the legislature to enforce the civil-union law instead of instituting marriage equality.
Legislators also received a petition signed by about 200 prominent Democratic leaders from throughout the state, including elected officials, lobbyists and fundraisers, supporting the shift from civil union to marriage.
Following the vote, one of Jersey’s most legendary residents — Bruce Springsteen — publicly announced his support for marriage equality through a posting on his Web site.
“Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I’ve been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton,” Springsteen wrote. “I’ve long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same-sex couples and fully agree with Gov. Corzine when he writes that, ‘The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is — a civil-rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.’ I couldn’t agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.”
Christie, a fan of Springsteen who has attended 122 of his concerts, recently asked the musician to perform at his inauguration, but the musician declined.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].