The prospects for passage for marriage equality bills in both New York and New Jersey seemed bright early this year.
The prospects have dimmed considerably in both states. New York magazine today captures the situation with a headline: “New Jersey Pulling a New York on Gay Marriage”.
In New York the lower house of the legislature—the Assembly—had passed marriage equality bills before, but Republicans, who had controlled the upper house for decades, consistently blocked the bills in the Senate. But in the 2008 election—with considerable help and money from LGBT activists—Democrats managed to eke out a slim majority to take control of the Senate. In November, it seemed likely the a marriage equality bill—which had been given strong support by Gov. David Paterson—would finally pass.
But since then, we’ve been able to watch as an odd political circus took over at New York’s capitol in Albany. Despite calls from Paterson for senators to vote on the marriage equality bill during a series of special sessions he has called for this month, the Democrats who control the senate have not brought the bill to the floor.
The bill is still stuck in a kind of political limbo in Albany with contradictory predictions about its prospects.
In New Jersey as well, the prospects looked bright at the start of the year. The state already grants civil unions to lesbian and gay couples, but an official panel had concluded after extensive testimony that civil unions are a failed “separate but equal” attempt that do not give to the state’s gay and lesbian citizens the same rights and dignity that would be afforded to their unions by marriage.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine vowed to sign a marriage equality bill if the legislature would pass it. Just one problem: New Jersey elects its governor and much of its legislators in off-year elections and one of them was scheduled for this November. Many legislators who said they’d support the bill after the election were reluctant to do so beforehand. Corzine campaigned for reelection, however, with passage of marriage equality as one of his campaign planks.
But Corzine lost. For the first time in decades, a Republican will take over as New Jersey governor in January. And that Republican—Chris Christie—vowed during his campaign to veto any bill granting marriage equality.
Dimming prospects for marriage equality in both NY and NJ [contd.]
There remained a considerable glimmer of hope, however, because the legislature would meet in a lame-duck session this month, and LGBT activists were convinced that legislators would willing to pass the marriage equality they had long promised to support. If it passes during the lame-duck session, the bill could be signed by Corzine before he leaves office in mid-January.
But legislators are quickly back-pedaling from their promises to the LGBT activists and donors who helped them win elction.
New York magazine reports:
Despite the New Jersey legislature’s previously stated intention to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage, the prospects for passage have dimmed in the wake of the gubernatorial election, as some Democrats in the Democrat-controlled body have begun to “waver.” Their reasons are not altogether convincing, but that’s not surprising when you're talking about denying rights to a specific group of people. …
Excuse A: The voters will resent that the legislature is spending time on social issues when the economy is still so terrible. …
Excuse B was summarized by New York Times:
Other Democrats worried that if they passed a same-sex-marriage bill while Mr. Corzine was on his way out of office, they might anger voters, energize Mr. Christie’s conservative base and alienate socially traditional Democrats.
A legislator who sponsored the marriage equality bill in the Assembly told the Times, “Certain members are putting political expediency before public policy”
But Reed Gusciora (D,Princeton) told the paper he still held out hope that lawmakers would view it as a matter of civil rights and approve it. he said. “But this issue is a lot like the Corzine-Christie race: it could go either way.”
New Jersey’s most prominent marriage equality advocate, Steven Goldstein of Garden State Equality, warned “weak-kneed” Democrats through the Times that failure to pass the marriage equality bill would threaten their own jobs:
“If the Democrats don’t enact marriage equality now, after years of telling us to wait, wait, wait, it will cause a huge schism between the state Democratic Party and not just the gay community, but the entire progressive base,” he said. “And it could change the political landscape of New Jersey permanently.”
Source: New Jersey Pulling a New York on Gay Marriage -- Daily Intel