NJ Senate To Vote on Marriage Equality Bill Thu 1/8

After a month of contentious debate following the 7-6 passage in the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee it has become clearer that it is unlikely there are the votes to pass a marriage equality bill through the New Jersey legislature for Governor Jon Corzine's signature before he leaves office on January 19th.

However, on Thursday January 8th the full New Jersey State Senate will vote on the measure, S1967.

"Given the intensely personal nature of this issue, I think the people of this state deserve the right to a formal debate on the Senate floor," Codey said.

With many legislators refusing to say where they stand, Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), a sponsor, said the vote forces them to "stand up and be counted on how they feel about equal rights."

"They can’t be hesitant anymore," Weinberg said. "They have to come to the realization that we were elected to take sometimes difficult stands, but we were not elected to only worry about the next election."

Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen), an opponent of the bill, said there isn’t enough support in either house to pass the measure but declined to say it would fail in the Senate.

"I have no way of getting into anybody’s head and saying how they’re going to go," Cardinale said. "Maybe they’re hoping that the debate will inflame people or that there will be folks who say outrageous things."

Senate Majority Leader and incoming Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) declined to say how he would vote, but said gay marriage supporters "have made a very strong case about civil rights — one that’s hard to ignore, to be perfectly honest with you."

Roberts said today the gay marriage divide in the Assembly is "very, very, very close," and his colleagues had been reluctant to vote on the bill only to see it go down in the Senate.

"A lot of Assembly people have said, ‘We want to support it, but we frankly want to know that it’s going to pass both houses,’" said Roberts (D-Camden). "And I think that’s a similar view in the Senate, that this has to be a reality in both houses. It’s simple mathematics."

If the bill clears the Senate, Roberts said he will post it in the full Assembly "immediately" Monday without a committee hearing, a day before leadership changes in both houses. Gov. Jon Corzine has pledged to sign it and today said "marriage equality is an idea whose time has come." Gov.-elect Chris Christie, who opposes gay marriage, takes office Jan. 19.

Keep your fingers crossed!