Gay-Marriage Rights Movement Turns Focus to New Jersey
Advert
The fight over gay-marriage rights in Maine was resolved on Tuesday when it was rejected by the narrowest of margins in a closely contested vote. The same-sex marriage movement is now expected to turn its focus to New Jersey where there is a significant amount of pressure to have a bill that authorizes gay-marriage passed while Governor Jon Corzine is still in office.
Gov. Corzine, who was defeated by Republican counterpart Chris Christie in Tuesday’s election, is slated to remain in office through the middle of January. President of the National Organization for Marriage Maggie Gallagher is under the impression that a potential gay-marriage bill will either be passed within the next few weeks or it will not be passed at all in the state of New Jersey.
Republican Chris Christie, the future Governor of New Jersey, is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage and that is an underlying factor behind the pressure that gay-marriage rights advocates are putting on Gov. Corzine to get a gay-marriage bill passed before his successor officially unseats him.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Tuesday’s gay-marriage vote in Maine marked the 31st occasion that state voters rejected same-sex marriage rights proposals. Although Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont are the only four states that currently grant gay-marriage, New Hampshire is slated to become the fifth in January of 2010.
