NJ Assembly Passes Marriage Equality Bill 42-33!

The New Jersey State Assembly passed a marriage equality bill by a vote of 42-33, becoming the seventh state legislature in history to pass a marriage equality bill. (The bill passed the State Senate 24-16.) Previously, state legislatures in California (2005 and 2007), Vermont (2009), Connecticut (2009), Maine (2009), New Hampshire (2009), New York (2011) and Washington (2012) had passed marriage equality bills through both houses. Of these states which enacted marriage equality legislatively, only Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York currently have marriage equality currently legal in their state. It should also be noted that the District of Columbia enacted marriage equality through its legislature in December 2009. California has an estimated 18,000 same-sex couples which are legally married but no more can get married until the Perry v Brown federal lawsuit is finally resolved. Massachusetts and Iowa also allow marriage equality, thanks to rulings by their respective state supreme courts.

In New Jersey, marriage equality will not go into effect because Republican Governor Chris Christie has announced his attention to veto the bill.

Garden State Equality sent out a press release on this historic achievement:

Since Stonewall, we have been on a 40-year journey toward our freedom.  Today, the legislature has brought us to the edge of the promised land.  We know the Governor won’t let us enter, but we finally behold the view of our dreams and we will never turn back.

Today’s milestone came in the face of some of the toughest obstacles in the history of the marriage equality movement.  Instead of a Governor twisting arms on our behalf, we have a Governor who twisted arms against us right up until the final votes in each chamber.    And Garden State Equality’s budget was one-tenth of what it was two years ago.

But we had the people and the passion – and the greatest leaders in Senate President Steve Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Jerry Green, Democratic Party Chair Assemblyman John Wisniewski, and the peerless pioneer in the New Jersey legislature, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora.   We thank the unsung heroes of the legislative process – the legislative staff, especially the Assembly Majority and Senate Majority staff.

We are exuberant advocates but also methodical strategists.  To win an override, we will take the time we need, assisted by a changing world.  Look how the world changed since the last vote two years ago.   We have until the end of the legislative session, January 2014.  The key is winning.

We could not have achieved this milestone without our partner organizations.  Freedom to Marry was the national linchpin that never stopped believing in Garden State Equality, not even after our profound disappointment two years ago, and made this milestone possible.

The Human Rights Campaign lent us a spectacular field director and was invaluable and gracious at every juncture.  The ACLU, The Task Force and Marriage Equality NY/USA gave us additional power.   Our sisters and brothers in labor, especially the Communications Workers of America, have been relentless fighters by our side.   Our state’s progressive blog, Blue Jersey, has been an unsurpassed voice for justice.

And once again, we thank our spectacular lobbying firm, the Kaufman Zita Group, including Jeannine LaRue, Tom Wilson, Adam Kaufman and Trish Zita.  They are second to none.

Pursuing all roads to justice, Garden State Equality and seven-same sex couples will continue our lawsuit for marriage equality, where we are represented by Lambda Legal and the nationally renowned Gibbons law firm.  With this victory, the courts will see the legislature’s clear intent to replace the state’s failed civil union law with marriage equality.

Congratulations to the Garden State!

New Jersey Senate Passes Marriage Equality 24-16

What a difference two years makes in the kulturkampf over civil marriage equality. In January 2010 the New Jersey Senate defeated a marriage equality vote by a vote of 14-20, denying lame duck governor Jon Corzine a chance to sign the measure into law and giving Governor-elect Chris Christie his first legislative victory.

Yesterday the New Jersey senate passed a new marriage equality bill by a vote of 24-16, just three votes short of a veto proof majority, which they have until the end of the current legislative session in January 2014 to get. Republican Governor Chris Christie, who is up for re-election in November 2013 has vowed to veto the legislation if it reaches his desk despite overwhelming public support in recent polls. He, bizarrely, has called for a public referendum on the question of equal marriage rights for all, revealing his disdain for and ignorance of the civil rights tradition in this country. New Jersey does not have a large history of referenda; the last time there was a referendum on civil rights the gentle citizens of the Garden State voted in 1910 to continue denying women the right to vote.

On Thursday the New Jersey Assembly is expected to pass the marriage equality and send it to Gov. Christie for his enthusiastic veto. Then the fun will begin to see if the votes to override his veto can be found in both houses.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0

NJ Lawmakers Set Marriage Equality As Legislative Priority

Garden State Equality, New Jersey's leading Lesbian and Gay political organization, announced that majority leaders in both houses of the New Jersey legislature have decided to fast-track passage of a marriage equality bill, A. 1 and S.1.

(Trenton, NJ, January 9, 2012) – Today New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney and House Speaker Sheila Oliver announced that they will fast-track and prioritize legislation that would end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in New Jersey.  The announcement was made at a press conference today in which Freedom to Marry’s National Campaign Director Marc Solomon offered the  organization’s full support in helping secure passage of the law.

The below is an excerpt from Solomon’s remarks: 

“Freedom to Marry is proud to partner with Garden State Equality and New Jersey’s tremendous legislative leaders, Senate President Sweeney and House Speaker Oliver, as we work together to make New Jersey the next state to end the exclusion of gay couples from marriage.  What New Jersey’s legislative leaders are telling us clearly today is that the Garden State values its gay and lesbian citizens fully, and does not accept treating same-sex couples and their families as second class citizens, as it presently does with civil unions.  Marriage matters for same-sex couples and their families, both because it says we’re a family through thick and thin in a way that nothing else does, and because it provides a critical safety-net of protections that civil unions do not.”

Following the 2006 passage of civil union legislation, the 2008 New Jersey Civil Union Commission concluded there was “overwhelming evidence that civil unions will not be recognized by the general public as the equivalent of marriage in New Jersey with the passage of time.”  It recommended enacting marriage in its place.  

The House and Senate bills (respectively numbered A. 1 and S. 1) are expected to be taken up early this year.  The numbering of the bills reflects the importance which the legislative leaders are giving to the effort.

Interestingly, Republican Governor Chris Christie has repeatedly announced that he would veto any marriage equality bill that the legislature passed and even before he was sworn in, Governor-elect Christie was instrumental in preventing the passage of a marriage equality bill in a lame duck session which Governor Jon Corzine would have signed into law.

Another sign of the widespread support for marriage equality in the Garden State is that the entire 7-member Democratic congressional delegation sent a letter supporting marriage equality and urging fast passage of the pending legislation.

Hopefully 2012 will be the year New Jersey joins its neighboring state of New York in enacting marriage equality. New Jersey has had a civil unions law since 2005.

Garden State Equality on New Jersey Marriage vote

GARDEN STATE EQUALITY AND LAMBDA LEGAL ANNOUNCE: BACK TO COURT TO WIN MARRIAGE EQUALITY IN NEW JERSEY

The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2006, in a case brought by Lambda Legal, that same-sex couples must be treated equally under the state Constitution.

The courts now have monumental proof that the civil union law has failed to provide equal protection.

Garden State Equality: “We are not waiting out the term of any new Administration to bring equality to same-sex couples in our state.”

Below are the remarks of Garden State Equality Chair Steven Goldstein, cell (917) 449-8918, at today's post-Senate vote news conference:

With today’s vote in the state Senate, the New Jersey legislature defaulted on its constitutional obligation to provide same-sex couples in New Jersey equal protection, as unanimously mandated by the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2006. That’s why we at Garden State Equality are here with our partner Lambda Legal, which has an extraordinary track record of advancing LGBT civil rights in the courts.

Now our organizations will announce major news. Our side is going back to court to win marriage equality.

We’ll hear from Lambda Legal in a moment. Let’s be clear about what this news means. We are not waiting out the term of any new Administration to bring equality to same-sex couples in our state.

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. Too often, civil union couples too often cannot visit loved ones in hospitals, make medical decisions for their partners or receive equal health benefits from employers. Hospitals and employers have treated civil union couples differently because they’ve been labeled differently. Children have been treated differently at school because their families are labeled differently.

In recent months, including today and at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in December, New Jersey legislators publicly recognized these failures. They publicly acknowledged that the civil union law has not provided equal protection. That’s important. New Jersey legislators themselves said it. Our opponents in the legislature said it.

In other words, though we didn’t achieve our final victory today, we’re better positioned than we were a few months ago to win marriage equality. So if you’re wondering how we feel, it’s complicated. On the one hand, we resent, more than you can imagine, remaining second-class citizens a bit longer. On the other hand, the ball has moved forward. The public record for the courts is mighty, and we’re closer than ever to winning.

In 2006, New Jersey enacted an experiment called civil union. In 2010, New Jersey has a mountain of proof that the experiment has failed.

Now let’s talk about what happened politically.

Things didn’t go our way in the legislature because of one factor: Governor Corzine lost reelection.

After his win in November, Governor-elect Christie persuaded a number of legislators to reverse their support of the bill. Before the election, nearly every neutral observer in New Jersey thought marriage equality was certain to become law in lame duck. It became the zeitgeist in Trenton, with good reason. In contrast to today’s outcome, before the election we had votes to spare in the Senate, including from a number of Republicans.

But the election changed everything and our national opponents changed nothing. They didn’t do much or spend much in New Jersey. As you saw from our thousands of members at the State House these past few weeks who symbolized the massiveness of our campaign, we overwhelmed our opponents on every front – but one. Our opponents had the Governor-elect on their side, and that’s all they needed to have. It’s ironic given that marriage equality wasn’t even an issue in the election, and that the candidates who favored marriage equality together won a majority.

All this said, we extend to Governor-elect Christie an outstretched hand. He will be the Governor of all of us. We ask him to continue the tradition of his Republican predecessors, Christie Whitman and Tom Kean, who always kept an open door to the LGBT community. And though we differ with the Governor-elect on marriage equality, we also seek to explore with him and his Administration the issues on which we may have agreement and can work together.

No political party should write off any constituency. And no party should take any constituency for granted either. Our fundamental right to equality should never have been left to sudden death overtime by the party to which the LGBT community and our allies have been unstintingly loyal and have given so much.

To be clear, we will continue to support those who support us. Over the past five-and-a-half years, the separate Garden State Equality political committee has provided thousands of campaign volunteers and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for supportive candidates through contributions to the organization, or through contributions from individuals directly to candidates.

Of course, when we exceed politicians’ expectations in ways they like, we never hear, you’re going too far, your fervor is too much. That double standard, which other minority communities have heard in their own fights for equality, hurts deeply. And it hurts everyone who stands for equality, including supporters in the majority.

Now there will be a sustained response not only from the LGBT community, but also from straight progressive voters who have been our equal partners. Marriage equality stopped being just a gay issue long ago.

To those who let us all down, here’s our policy: Don’t ask, don’t expect. You can’t take progressives’ money and volunteers with one hand, slap us in the face with the other, and then act astonished when we declare our independence. The marketplace of democracy runs along a two-way street.

Members and friends, today was not an outcome lost, but rather a juncture in an otherwise glorious road to justice. Since Garden State Equality’s founding in 2004, New Jersey has enacted 210 LGBT civil rights laws at the state, county and local levels, a national record. We have 64,000 members – LGBT and straight alike – who have improved the lives of millions. A watchdog organization, eQualityGiving.com, just ranked New Jersey #1 in America for LGBT rights, tied with three other states, and we haven’t even won marriage equality yet.

But we will soon. Cesar Chavez said it best. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the people who feel pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.

Before I introduce our colleagues from Lambda Legal, some thanks are in order. Thank you to all our Senate sponsors, including prime sponsors Loretta Weinberg and Raymond Lesniak. We appreciate Loretta and Raymond beyond measure for their indefatigable leadership, and extend to them our love. We thank Senators Bill Baroni and Nia Gill – unwavering voices for justice at our committee hearing. We thank all our Assembly sponsors, including prime sponsors Reed Gusciora, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, John McKeon and Mila Jasey. We thank our Governor Corzine and Speaker Roberts for their support. And let me say this about Governor Dick Codey: He’s been an extraordinary champion of equality who kept his word about a Senate vote. Every progressive in New Jersey should view Governor Codey as a hero.

We thank the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, Gill Action, the Civil Marriage Collaborative, the Arcus Foundation and Freedom to Marry, which have given us resources and wisdom. We thank our partners at the state level, including the ACLU of New Jersey, BlueWave, Democracy for America, New Jersey Citizen Action, New Jersey Stonewall Democrats and the state’s progressive voice on the web, Blue Jersey, to which we owe so much.

We thank our spectacular field staff who joined us from across the country. We thank our executive committee, board, staff and donors who make Garden State Equality possible. We thank the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition for its decades of groundwork. We thank all the supportive staff in the legislature and executive branch. We especially thank our thousands of volunteers – the stars of Garden State Equality – who rallied at the State House and worked in our offices and in the field throughout the year. And if I may, I thank my partner Daniel and all the loved ones of our staff and volunteers who have supported us and sacrificed so much.

Most of all, we thank our colleagues at Lambda Legal, without whom our march toward equality would never have gotten this far. We’re thrilled to reunite with our partner Lambda Legal in the next stage of the battle. Please welcome Leslie Gabel-Brett, Lambda Legal’s director of education and public affairs.

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