The New Jersey state Senate has announced it is scheduled to vote Thursday on legislation to legalize same-sex marriage. The vote comes after months of debate and political maneuvering.
Incoming New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, who beat out Gov. Jon Corzine in November’s election, has promised to veto the bill if it comes across his desk while he is in office. Therefore, Democrats are in a hurry to push the bill through the Senate and the state Assembly before current Gov. Jon Corzine leaves office on Jan. 19.
A vote was scheduled last year for December 7, but was postponed due to lack of support. Whether or not support has changed is unknown.
Currently, five Democratic Senators are committed to voting no on the measure, meaning that at least three Republican votes are needed for the bill to pass. Senator Bill Baroni, Republican from Central Jersey, has already committed to supply one of those three votes. According to the Huffington Post, Republicans likely to provide the other two votes are Christopher Bateman, Sean Kean, Jennifer Beck, Andrew Ciesla and Tom Kean Jr.
Either way, the full vote is likely to be quite close and we need your support to ensure that New Jersey Senators vote in favor of traditional marriage.
If you live in New Jersey, please send your legislators a message today telling them to oppose this attempt to redefine marriage.
If the bill is passed into law, New Jersey will be the sixth state to legally recognize same-sex marriage.