“I believe that the institution of marriage as it’s traditionally known is between one man and one woman and it should stay that way in New Jersey. “
~Chris Christie
Chris Christie likens himself as a tough guy willing to say it like it is…a new kind of bold politician who is rough and tumble…he’s not afraid to just call a spade a spade. Except – Governor Christie is much more concerned with his long term national prospects than he is about doing what’s right for New Jersey. Of course – there is nothing politically courageous about Governor Christie’s position. He is trying desperately to thread a political needle to say that the “people should vote” on whether or not a person has the right to marry and be legally recognized in the state.
You know…just like in the early years of our union when Alabama wanted to let “the people vote” as to whether or not slavery should be legal or not. It’s the exact same thing; when you’re talking about civil rights and 2nd class citizenship…it should not be a decision left up to popular vote. But even with the popular vote – 52% of New Jersey citizens support legalizing “gay marriage” and 61% support it when it’s referred to as “marriage equality”. Of course – more Republicans…Chris Christie’s base are against it; it’s the independents and Democrats who support it most. And Chris Christie is simply not BOLD enough to go against his base and the national tide against marriage equality….so he’s “leaving it to a popular vote”.
In the 70′s…in the days of Harvey Milk – then former Governor Ronald Reagan swam upstream against the Conservative tide against popular opinion to oppose the “Briggs Initiative” which would have made it legal to fire teachers just for being gay. As described in the American Spectator – a very conservative news organization:
Yet Reagan’s involvement in defeating Proposition 6 is not lost on all in the gay community. David Mixner, an organizer for the No forces in Los Angeles who would later become a top fundraiser for Bill Clinton in his first bid for the White House, is unambiguous in crediting Reagan for defeating Proposition 6. Mixner wrote in his blog last month:
Despite all our good work, everyone involved had taken the Proposition from 75% in favor of firing homosexual school teachers down to only 55%. We were having a helluva time gaining that last 6%. We knew we needed something big to push us over the top and we needed it soon since we were in the last weeks of the campaign.
There is no doubt in my mind that the man who put us over the top was California Governor Ronald Reagan. His opposition to Proposition 6 killed it for sure.
Source: http://spectator.org/archives/2009/02/26/reagan-and-milk/print
Seven states and the District of Columbia have now legalized gay marriage: Washington, New York, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
California appears to be headed towards the legalization of gay marriage thanks to the ruling of an Appeals Court on Februray 7th, 2012. They ruled the ban on gay marriage “unconstitutional” and it will likely find it’s way to the California Supreme Court.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/07/us-usa-gaymarriage-california-idUSTRE8160HO20120207
The Maryland House of Representatives just passed a bill 71-67 that would allow for marriage equality as well. Governor O’Malley has already said that he’ll sign it; now it only needs to pass through the Maryland state Senate. The Maryland state Senate already passed the bill last year but it died in the House due to religious opposition.
If enacted, the law would come into force in January 2013. But opponents of the bill have until June 1 to collect 55,736 signatures to trigger a referendum on it. Voters would then get to have their say in November.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-maryland-gay-marriage-20120217,0,4249469.story
