New Jersey moves toward same-sex marriage, and possibly toward an out for Christie
Chris Christie speaks. Gov Christie, via flickr
1:33 pm Feb. 14, 20122
Could it be that what's good for the cause of same-sex marriage is also good for Chris Christie?
The Democratic-held New Jersey State Senate yesterday passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage by a comfortable margin, and the Democratic-held Assembly is expected to pass it too.
Christie, a Republican who is not running for president this year but is almost certainly interested in seeking national office at some point, opposes same-sex marriage, and has advocated putting it to a referendum rather than passing legislation. This was his neat way of reconciling the majority support in New Jersey that exists for marriage equality with his own desire not to alienate a national conservative base that is in love with him, and whose feelings for him will almost certainly come in handy one day.
The thing is, the Senate's passage of the bill, as Jersey-based gay-rights advocate Steven Goldstein put it to the Times, "brought the notion of [a veto] override out of fantasyland." Goldstein put the odds of finding enough support to override Christie at "one in two."
That would be a slap in Christie's face, for sure. But it's not clear that it would hurt. After all, if Christie vetoes same-sex-marriage legislation and gets overridden, he'll be able to tell conservatives one day, when he's asking for their support, that at least he tried to keep the liberals in check.
Perhaps Christie is watching what's happening to his chosen candidate, Mitt Romney, as the Republican primary electorate tortures him in state after state, in part because of his record as a champion of certain liberal ideas when he was governor of Massachusetts. In that context, and in the context of Christie's future presidential aspirations, an overridden veto of gay marriage starts to look like a useful credential.
Christie lost credibility with conservatives when he offered to put same-sex marriage up to a referendum. Conservatives only want referendums when the voters are clearly on their side and same-sex marriage does not have a chance. When the voters are not on their side, they want the legislature and governor to beat back the momentum of this generation's civil rights movement. Look at New York, where is the referendum in that state? Where is the drive to bring it to the voters in that state? It's a fizzle, because their hate-filled agenda will fail at the ballot there just as it failed in the legislature, with even Republicans seeing the writing on the wall and voting for it.
The younger generation overwhelmingly supports equal rights for same-sex couples. The conservative's "gay boogeyman" is dead. The only ones going back into the closet are the sexist, homophobic anti-gay individuals and their hate-filled ideology; society will have no more of that.
The Repiglicans and National Organization for (straight-only) Marriage have lost. They will never pass a marriage amendment because there are too many states and voters now that are pro-equality for an amendment to ever get to a vote in Congress. Bill Clinton did us a favor by passing a statutory DOMA instead of letting the GOP pass an amendment in 1996, when it probably would have been ratified by 38 state legislatures.
I predict in 2013, after Obama's reelection, there will be a dam-burst of blue and purple states repealing their state amendments and enacting equality.
The forces of anti-Gay hysteria may pass an amendment in North Carolina in may, but that will be the last time they win in any state. THey are going to lose in Minnesota.