The effort to secure marriage equality for the Garden State saw another victory last week as a committee of the New Jersey Assembly advanced a same-sex marriage bill.
The Assembly Judiciary Committee approved the measure in a 5-2 vote Feb. 2, following the Senate Judiciary Committee’s successful vote late last month.
The measure could come before the full Assembly Feb. 16. Openly gay lead sponsor Assemblyman Reed Gusciora acknowledged last week that he had not yet secured the 41 needed votes, but pledged to press his fellow lawmakers for their support.
The Senate, which reportedly has enough votes to approve the bill, is expected to take up the issue Feb. 13.
The Assembly committee vote was divided along party lines, with the two Republicans voting against the bill.
Prior to the vote, the committee heard testimony for more than six hours from members of the public, including opponents who argued from religious standpoints and scores of same-sex couples and LGBT families.
Madison Galluccio, the 15-year-old daughter of John and Michael Galluccio, who sued the state of New Jersey in the 1990s for the right to adopt their son, testified about the importance of legalizing same-sex marriage for families like hers.
“God made us all in our own unique ways. And if God made my parents gay, then that’s just the way they are, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said. “I am proud to be the daughter of my parents. And I will never stop fighting for their rights or for any other gay family’s rights until they get the ability to be legally married and the respect that they deserve.”
Lawmakers also testified, including Gusciora, who noted the inherent disparities the state’s current civil-union system creates.
“Why is it that a same-sex couple in another state such as Iowa, New Hampshire, Massachusetts or New York can be duly married, yet when they cross the border into New Jersey they become civil unionized?” he testified. “A marriage law in New Jersey would make a significant difference in providing equality and dignity to same-sex couples and their children.”
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, also a sponsor, said in a statement last week that the civil-union law sends “a message to the public that same-sex couples and their families are not equal to married couples in the eyes of the law. It sends a message that same-sex couples are not good enough to warrant equality. This is the same message we heard from Jim Crow segregation laws. Separate treatment was wrong then. Separate treatment is wrong now.”
If the bill is able to pass in the full Assembly and Senate, its future remains uncertain, as Gov. Chris Christie has pledged to veto it.
Christie came under fire from marriage-equality opponents last month after remarking that the issue should be put to a voter referendum.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who last session abstained from voting on the marriage-equality bill but is now a supporter, categorically denied Christie’s suggestion.
“It’s time for everyone, from the governor to the chattering observers, to stop talking about a marriage-equality referendum in terms of ‘if,’” he said. “There will be no referendum on marriage equality in New Jersey. Period.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].