NJ Marriage Bill Clears Committee

The New Jersey marriage equality bill cleared a key hurdle late Monday when the state senate judiciary committee voted 7-6 to release the bill and put it to the full senate for a vote. While the committee had been widely expected to approve the bill, the outcome of the full senate vote, scheduled for Thursday, remains unclear.

Monday marked the first time the New Jersey legislature has voted on a marriage equality bill. Hundreds of supporters and opponents poured into the state house in Trenton to offer more than seven hours of testimony for the historic occasion.

Much of the testimony focused on questions of fairness, religious liberty, cultural traditions, and social progress. Speakers included NAACP leader Julian Bond, who compared the marriage equality battle to the struggle to achieve civil rights in the 1960s.

"Gay rights are civil rights," said Bond.

Religious organizations were heavily represented in the testimony, including supporters, as well as opponents such as the National Organization for Marriage, which is based in New Jersey.

NOM state leader Damon Owens called marriage equality an affront to his belief that sex should serve procreative purposes between people of different sexes.

"It means accepting that sodomy is equal to sexual union," Owens said.

Many speakers addressed the shortcomings of the state's civil union law, which the legislature passed in 2006 in response to a supreme court ruling that called for equal rights for same-sex couples. A state commission later determined that civil unions proved inadequate and perpetuated a separate but equal structure.

As committee members moved to close testimony just after 9 p.m., Sen. Bill Baroni, a Republican from a heavily Democratic district, reviewed his proposed amendment to protect the rights of religious organizations.

Shortly afterward, Baroni became the first senator to vote yes on marriage equality in New Jersey. He acknowledged the history-making nature of his vote to thunderous applause.

"I am proud to say I will be the first-ever New Jersey legislator to say the following on the question of marriage equality: I vote yes,"

Other committee members discussed the bill before registering their votes, with detractors arguing that the proposal felt too rushed. Supporters are eager to pass the bill before Gov. Jon Corzine leaves office January 19. The governor, who has promised to sign the bill, lost his reelection bid last month to Chris Christie, a Republican who has vowed to veto the bill.

In comments preceding her own ye" vote, state senator Loretta Weinberg, the chief sponsor of the marriage equality bill, stressed that it was the result of an evolution over years. She recalled the domestic-partnership and civil unions initiatives that previously passed the state legislature.

Just after 10 p.m. on Monday, the committee approved the bill for consideration by the full senate with a bipartisan vote of 7-6. The close margin could indicate a tight vote on Thursday in the senate, where Democrats hold a 23-17 majority.