A Route to Marriage in New Jersey?

Marriage equality in New Jersey has seemed like a non-starter so long as Gov. Chris Christie remains in office, but there might be a plan brewing to try anyway.

The Auditorreports that gay rights proponents will meet this week to discuss a strategy for passing the law through the legislature and then perhaps following up with a veto override. That would require not only vast support from lawmakers, but also a nod from the governor that his veto was an individual decision.

Christie has said being gay is not a sin, that people are born homosexual, and that he supports civil unions. But he said after marriage equality passed in neighboring New York that he wouldn't have signed the bill.

"We're leaning toward doing it and asking Christie, when he vetoes it, to send a Gov. Tom Kean-like message to the Legislature that this vote is a matter of conscience they have to personally and individually examine in the override vote," state senator Ray Lesniak told The Auditor.

Lesniak and Loretta Weinberg sponsored a failed bill for marriage equality last year when they lost the vote in the New Jersey Senate by 20-14. They would need two-thirds of senators to override a veto, and that means pulling in some Republican votes. A bill has already been introduced in the House but faces the same challenges.

One powerful opponent of the bill last time has said he regrets the decision. Senate president Stephen Sweeney said earlier this year that his vote against marriage equality was the "biggest mistake" of his political career.