N.J. Senate Judiciary Committee approves gay marriage bill

[Eris0303]

Posted: 12/7/09 at 11:15pm

N.J. Senate Judiciary Committee approves gay marriage bill

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/7/09 at 11:23pm

I wonder what sort of fundie smackdown awaits the garden state. At least we don't live in Uganda!

The invetiable cries of the bigoted begin Updated On: 12/7/09 at 11:23 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/7/09 at 11:29pm

On to the full senate vote Thursday!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:45am

Holding out hope for Thursday. I've already called my Senator (a sponsor of the bill) and thanked her for her support.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:04pm

I've called my senator and have urged my NJ friends to call theirs as well, asking them to vote to pass this bill.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:19pm

My boss heard the radio ads this morning calling bs on lame duck lawmakers trying to push this through. Christie has said he will "veto any such bill" that passes his desk. What the hell are we SUPPOSED to do?

[WestVillage]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:22pm

Call as many senators as you can, even if not in your district ... esp. the ones who voted no, and tell them you are disappointed in their vote and that all NJ residents deserve to be treated equally and you would hope that they would change their vote to yes on Thursday.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:22pm

I just wrote to my legislators asking them to support this bill.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:27pm

My boss heard the radio ads this morning calling bs on lame duck lawmakers trying to push this through. Christie has said he will "veto any such bill" that passes his desk. What the hell are we SUPPOSED to do?

The goal is to get it passed and signed by Corzine before he leaves office. He has already promised to sign any such measure should it reach his desk before January 19.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:38pm

ETA: Just got off the phone with Senator Baroni's office. He was the only Republication to vote "yes" so I was not only glad to see that he had voted yes but proud of him for standing against his party. They were very happy to hear from me and excited to be able to put my town on the list.
NJ Senator Contact Info

Updated On: 12/8/09 at 12:38 PM

[Eris0303]

Posted: 12/8/09 at 12:41pm

Also:

Yes:

Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer)
Sen. Nia H. Gill (D-Essex)
Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union)
Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union)
Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson)
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen)

No:

Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), chairman
Sen. John A. Girgenti (D-Passaic) vice chair
Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Somerset)
Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth)
Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen)
Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth)


7-6

[Eris0303]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:32am

NJ gay marriage vote could shape battles ahead

[Eris0303]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:48am

Proponents said they wanted the bill to receive parallel consideration in the Assembly. Lawmakers also want more time to consider an amendment strengthening the religious exemption.

The amendment clarifies that religious organizations would not have to perform same-sex weddings or allow them on their property.

Lame. This is like saying "We'll give them the right to marry but allow people to still be prejudice."
Gay Marriage Vote Delayed In NJ Senate

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:18am

"Lame. This is like saying 'We'll give them the right to marry but allow people to still be prejudice'."

I disagree. Separating the religious from the civil is critical to success. The state shouldn't compel any religious organization to perform same-sex marriages. Trying to do so would doom the initiative.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:26am

I assume this is being rushed in the final days of Corzine before that homophobe Christie takes office.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 12:41pm

Eris, people have every right to be prejudiced. You cannot legislate away prejudice. You can make illegal certain actions stemming from prejudice, but people have the right to their own beliefs, regardless of how messed up they are.

And, and MB said, you cannot compel a church to perform a same-sex ceremony, the same way as you cannot compel the Catholic church to ordain female priests.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 1:24pm

I could care less about marrying my partner in a church .. I just want to marry him.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 2:16pm

The 'moderate' conservatives like to point out that they are not against gay marriage but against the state involved in marriage which is strange because I guess they could fight to invalidate millions of heterosexual marriages that never took place in the church or never read the Full Faith and Credit Clause in the constitution that is what got their conservative brethren to put out DOMA to begin with. State and marriage licenses are just as connected as church and marriage as you need a license and you benefits (of course that is hampered for gay couples with DOMA).

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 5:34pm

The fat ass homophobe bigot governor elect had a chat with Mayor Bloomberg today, who apparently gave him a bit of an earful on gay marriage. It was described by this reporter as a rather "awkward" moment.
Christie meets Bloomberg

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 5:45pm

Bloomberg shelled out much dough to NY Republicans in the state senate for his failed congestion pricing plan and continued to give money in his arbitrary 'bipartisan' standards. Basically Bloomberg funded the resistance.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 8:37pm

King Mike did that? Who would have thought.

New York's decision was not surprising. These guys are covering their collective asses. The state is running on fumes money wise & they are flat out ignoring it & hope it will magically go away. The solution is vote the bums out. This is true term limits

If they are reelected, you can expect more of the same foolishness.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 8:53pm

Actually Roxy it was surprising given that hardly anything that goes into the state senate fails to pass. Duane thought he had votes from both sides of the aisle and basically he was betrayed. It must feel really great for him to know he has colleagues who treat him like a second-class citizen.

But really live in your proverbial whining over the state and taxes. You had your chance to vote out 'King Mike' but when there was a candidate who could have beatend him you passed up Thompson because he was too much of a 'big spending, TAX, TAX, TAX!' liberal. You once wrote that NYS was just like California. Um, no, I know for a fact it is not like California- the state workers are not being given furloughs months on end.

I agree many people should be voted out but this whole country operates on 'love my congresscritter, hate the congress' attitude. State-wise, no different.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:15pm

I did not vote for Mike but Thompson to me was the standard liberal tax & spend democrat. He was in the hip pocket of the TWU & other unions.

You mention state workers not being furloughed in NYS. They have not yet but as long as the public employee unions are held sacrosanct & cannot bear any suffering while the rest of the populace is getting screwed on a daily basis it is reaching a breaking point. The state will run out of money & those poo pooing Paterson now will be singing a different tune come 1/1/2010.

Wall Street will never come back to the way it was. Until municipal & state governments realize this, they simply will not get it.

It will not be pretty in 2010 as plugging this years deficit is only the tip of the iceberg. It will get downright ugly next year.

Updated On: 12/10/09 at 09:15 PM