Bigots launch New Jersey petition drive against Marriage Equality

[Ian David]

published Monday, February 12, 2007

Same-sex marriage opponents launched a petition drive Monday pushing to amend the state constitution to include a definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The drive comes a week before New Jersey begins to allow same-sex couples to legally unite in civil unions.

Legislative leaders have refused to allow lawmakers to vote on a proposal to amend the state constitution to include the traditional definition of marriage. Unlike other states, where citizens can gather petitions and get a measure on the ballot, New Jersey has no referendum provision.

<snip>

New Jersey lawmakers voted in December to create civil unions, a step in gay rights only three states have matched or surpassed, after the state Supreme Court in October forced their hands. The court ruled in favor of extending all the rights of same-sex couples beyond the domestic-partner benefits they now have.

More:
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2007/02/12/1

[ThomCat]

1. They'll get enough signatures to cause trouble.

But I'm hoping we can beat them back and make it hurt.
x(

[HockeyMom]

2. Wishing you good luck

While your neighbors here in the Empire State do NOTHING. Hoping our new Governor Spitzer keeps his campaign promise.

BOTH my daughters, gay and straight, deserve the right to marry the person they love.

[ThomCat]

3. I'm in NYC

but NJ is so close that crossing the border is no big deal. I'll be there for a fight. :)

I'm hoping Spitzer keeps his promises too. He's obviously a crusader. But it's a matter of what he thinks the priorities are. He's a straight man, so I'm not terribly hopeful that we're going to be one of his priorities.

[ninkasi]

4. Why should they care?

Same sex couples are going to be together anyway, so why should bigots care whether they can marry or not? As a heterosexual woman, the issue of same sex marriage is quite simply one of all citizens enjoying equal rights. Nobody should be able to deny others the same rights they enjoy, just because they don't approve of it. Religion shouldn't enter into it at all. We have no national religion, so those arguments should carry no weight at all.

People who feel strongly that same sex marriage is wrong are perfectly free to exercise their right not to enter into a same sex marriage. On the other hand, people who are adult, and in love, and want to have a legally recognized marriage, should be able to. It seems simple to me, but then I'm not a bigot.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Look up the word "invidious"

The motivations of the people who oppose same-sex marriage are basically the same as those people who opposed mixed-race marriage. That second group was soundly slapped down by a unanimous US Supreme Court in the 1967 case Loving v. Virginia.

[ninkasi]

6. Thanks, I learned a new word

and what it boils down to is a bunch of spiteful people who like to make life miserable for others.

[triakis36]

7. It's scary for me to think..

that anti-miscegenation laws weren't that long ago, and that the mentality that existed then still exists now.

Is anyone in office now that supported such laws back then?