New Jersey Could Be Next Battleground Over Gay Marriage

Mount Laurel, N.J. - A leading opponent of gay marriage in New Jersey is heartened that voters in California, Arizona and Florida last week added bans of the unions to their states' constitutions.

Advocates for same-sex marriage say votes in those places won't have any negative effect on the effort in New Jersey, but could instead motivate people to push for marriage equality.

It remains unclear when the opposing claims will be put to the test in a legislative battle that was expected to come sometime after last week's election.

"Right now the biggest priority we all have is getting this economy going," Gov. Jon S. Corzine said Tuesday. "I think we ought to stay focused on the most important things that need to be addressed."

Jennifer Sciortino, a spokeswoman for Senate President Richard Codey, said legislators' priority is getting Corzine's economic stimulus package passed.

A spokesman for the other man in charge of the state's legislative agenda, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, a Camden Democrat, was also coy about when the issue might be addressed. "The Speaker continues to believe that full marriage equality in New Jersey is simply a matter of 'when,' and not 'if,"' said Derek Roseman.

Gay rights legislation in New Jersey has a history of arriving faster than expected.

In 2006, the state Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey had to offer gay couples the same rights and protection of married couples - then gave the Legislature six months to figure out how to do it.

At first, top lawmakers said they would take their time to assess their options. But within two months, they adopted a civil unions law, that allows gay couples the rights of marriage without the tittle.

The gay rights group Garden State Equality used that as a platform to press for full marriage. The first couple to hold a ceremony under the new law was Steven Goldstein, the chairman of the group, and Daniel Gross.

Goldstein told guests at the ceremony held just after midnight on Feb. 19, 2007, that he would push for full marriage rights. "You're all invited to that wedding in the next two years - or less," he said.

He called for New Jersey to become the first state to have the Legislature pass a law and the governor sign it recognizing gay marriage. Corzine has said that he would sign such a bill.

So far, the only states to allow the unions - Massachusetts in 2004 and Connecticut and California this year - have done so by order of the states' top courts.

The biggest successes for opponents of gay marriage have come on ballot initiatives. Twenty-nine states have now adopted state constitutional amendments to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Arizona, Florida and California adopted amendments just last week. The California measure, known as Proposition 8, represents the first time that a state that has allowed gay couples to marry and then had to stop issuing marriage licenses to them.

Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, says the measures bode well for advocates of limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.

"When it comes to various social issues the country does tend to lean center-right," Deo said.

Deo also said that lawmakers who are torn on how to settle the debate might find appeal to the option he now prefers: a voter-approved constitutional amendment. Unlike many states, such a ballot question would require legislative approval.

"As time goes on and the battle doesn't cease, they can see the opportunity to give the people the right to vote gives them the ability to move the issue off the table once and for all," he said.

Garden State Equality's Goldstein said that the passage of Proposition 8 was a wake-up call for gay rights advocates in New Jersey and has cause an uptick in membership and donations to his organization- though he wouldn't specify by how much.

Goldstein said there is proof that's he confident lawmakers will allow gay marriage during the current legislative session, which ends in January 2010.

"I recently lost 50 pounds," he said. "I expect to be a thin bride in 2009."

But he wouldn't say if his old prediction of seeing gay marriage allowed by February would come true.