New Jersey’s Democrat-controlled Senate has rejected a proposal that would have made it the sixth state in the US to allow marriages involving same-sex couples.
The vote, which took place last Thursday, was the latest in a succession of setbacks for advocates of same-sex marriage in the US.
State Senators voted 20 to 14 against the bill, bringing rousing applause from opponents of the measure, who came out in force. The vote ends the effort to win legislative approval of the measure, and sets the stage for a new battle before the New Jersey Supreme Court.
“We applaud the senators for upholding a time-tested institution: marriage,” said Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, which has argued that gay marriage would weaken the social fabric by redefining one of society’s bedrock institutions.
Supporters of same-sex marriage had hoped to win approval for the measure before Jan. 19, when Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who promised to sign it, will be replaced by Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie, who opposes it.
Supporters of same-sex marriage in New Jersey have now vowed to focus their efforts on the state’s highest court, which in 2006 ordered lawmakers to give same-sex couples the same rights as others whether or not they called such unions marriages.
The defeat in New Jersey, which has widely been viewed as one of the most liberal states in the US is a significant setback for advocates of same-sex marriage. Last month, a similar measure was defeated in New York’s legislature, and in November voters in Maine repealed a gay-marriage law in a referendum.
Meanwhile, the Stand4Marriage DC Coalition is attempting to mobilise voters in Washington DC to support a referendum to repeal a bill passed last month legalising same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C. The measure has been signed by Mayor Adrian Fenty and transmitted to Congress, which oversees the district’s laws, to begin the required 30-day review period.
Lawyers for the coalition said that under district law, once a bill is passed by the council, signed by the mayor and transmitted to Congress, a referendum may be filed with the elections board to allow the citizens to vote on the new law.
“The Home Rule Charter gives D.C. residents the right to the initiative and the referendum process and authorises a citywide vote on this issue if petitioned to do so by the people,” said Cleta Mitchell, an lawyer for the Stand4Marriage DC Coalition who expected a hearing on the proposed referendum to be scheduled within two weeks.
In California, advocates for same-sex marriage are continuing with legal attempts to overturn a referendum repealing same-sex marriage in 2008.
Prominent national lawyers, David Boies, a renowned Democrat, and Ted Olson, a well-known Republican, are working together to attempt to repeal Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage.
Opening statements were made Monday in Federal District Court in San Francisco, in a case that is being anxiously watched by same-sex rights groups and supporters of traditional marriage nationwide.
“It’s not just a trial of gay marriage,” said Maggie Gallagher, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, a backer of Proposition 8 and other measures to forbid same-sex marriage nationwide. “It’s a trial of the majority of the American people.”
The California Supreme Court has already upheld Proposition 8, which passed with 52 percent of the vote after a bruising and costly campaign.