On the heels of the big marriage equality fight in New York, a New Jersey Democrat has introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D), New Jersey’s only openly gay legislator, introduced the bill last week, Matt Friedman of the Star Ledger reports. “They’re talking about it in New York,” Gusciora said. “Why aren’t we talking about it in New Jersey?”
The last time a similar bill was introduced in the state was in 2010, back when the governor was a Democrat. It failed in the state Senate.
Now that Republican Gov. Chris Christie is in office, the bill stands even less of a chance. Friedman writes:
Although supporters say they’ve persuaded several New Jersey Democrats who abstained last time to vote yes, that won’t matter unless they can get every Democrat on board and pick off three Republicans to make a veto-proof majority of 27 votes.
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D), who co-sponsored the 2010 bill, says she’d only bring up the new bill if she knows it has a chance: “If we can garner enough votes and we know they will stand up to the socially ultraconservative governor sitting in the Statehouse … then I’m willing to start all over again.”
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
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