New Jersey Senators Say No To Gay Marriage

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-07 14:05:00 UTC
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Separate Not EqualAfter a few heavy hours of debate, the New Jersey State Senate rejected a bill today that would have made the Garden State the sixth state in the country to recognize gay marriage. Sad, yes. A lack of leadership from New Jersey's State Senate, sure. But a death nail for marriage equality? Nope.

The vote was 20 against the marriage equality bill, and 14 in favor. Still seven votes shy of the 21 that were needed to make the bill a reality.

But it's not the end of the road for marriage equality in Jersey. Immediately after the vote, Garden State Equality and Lambda Legal issued a joint release saying that they would go back to the courts to obtain equal marriage rights.

"In 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court told the legislature it could enact marriage or another structure that provides the equal protection of marriage.  But the civil union law failed to do that," Garden State Equality said. "Though we didn’t achieve our final victory today, we’re better positioned than we were a few months ago to win marriage equality."

The courts now will be the only hope for same-sex marriage in Jersey, since incoming Governor Chris Christie has vowed to veto gay marriage legislation for the next four years if he has to. But while a litigation strategy might not be ideal, Garden State Equality is right on one thing.

There's ample evidence that civil unions don't work. It will be darn challenging for a court that has already ruled for equality four years ago, to not see that fact in 2010.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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