WyBlog

Gay marriage activists set their sights on New Jersey

Hot on the heels of their ignominious defeat in Maine the same sex marriage crowd is looking to New Jersey for redemption. Why? Because we now have a lame duck governor and a lame duck legislature and so the time is ripe to enact unpopular legislation. Unfortunately, it's a New Jersey political tradition. Use the lame duck session to ram through the kind of stuff that could never stand up under public scrutiny.

Governor Corzine can't be held accountable any longer; he'll be out of a job in two months. The legislature isn't up for re-election until 2011. The stage is set to pull a fast one on the public.

Gay marriage is the ultimate toxic political hot potato. Thirty-one times it's come up for a vote, and the people of 31 states have resoundingly said "no". It survives via judicial fiat, or by sneaky legislative maneuvers made in the dark of night. Governor-elect Chris Christie has vowed to veto any same sex marriage bill which reaches his desk. Clearly the mood in the electorate is not supportive.

But the social scientists in Trenton's ruling elite won't be deterred by something so trivial as the will of the people. Senate President Dick Codey and lame duck Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts are mounting a full court press to get a gay marriage bill passed in the next month or so in time for Corzine to sign it.

If these guys had any guts they'd put same sex marriage up for a statewide vote, or at least debate it during the normal legislative session when there is time for the public to weigh in. But they don't want to face angry voters; they'd rather sneakily pander to a vocal minority and avoid any hint of accountability.

The New Jersey Catholic Conference is already mobilizing to snuff out this latest attempt to redefine the nature of marriage. Last month they gathered 150,000 signatures on petitions opposing same sex marriage. And, a group of influential Orthodox Jewish rabbis from Lakewood issued a statement calling for the legislature to uphold traditional marriage. The battle lines are joined.

Supporters of the backdoor efforts to ram gay marriage down our throats should take heed of the mood in New Hampshire. That state recently enacted a same sex marriage law, but now they plan to revisit the issue via a statewide referendum. Tuesday's vote in Maine set the stage. New Hampshire's voters want a say, and they're going to get it next year.

New Jersey voters deserve a say too. An issue this contentious ought to be debated in the light of day, not sleazily enacted in the dark of night.

UPDATE 11 Nov 2009 13:35:
Linked by Kelly Heyboer in her weekly Jersey Blogs column on NJ.com and excerpted in the Tuesday November 11^th Star-Ledger (pg 15).

Thanks Kelly!

Posted at 14:56 by Chris Wysocki   [/rants]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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