We were flooded with emails a few minutes ago when our server was down, apologies for all those who tried to log on as the news was breaking in Vermont - Rosi
New Jersey will not be the first state in America to recognize marriage for same-sex couples through the legislative process.
The Vermont Senate overrode Gov. Jim Douglas's promised veto this morning 23-5, and the House of Representatives followed hours later 100-49, a large enough margin to override. It's done. Marriage equality goes into effect in Vermont September 1.
Video and liveblog from Burlington Free Press here.
Meanwhile, inside of a week, two very different states - Iowa and Vermont - guarantee for their citizens what New Jersey cannot offer hers. This is a will of the people moment in American history.
Senator Codey, Senator Roberts, I'm talking to you now. This is an equal protection issue, a civil rights question that New Jerseyans recognize - gay or straight. It's not fringe, and it's not some favor you'd be doing for a minority population, or powerhouse lobby in the state.
It's the right thing to do. You know it already. And we're waiting for your leadership. We don't even have to be first anymore.
UPDATE: Steven Goldstein, Garden State Equality:
New Jersey legislators, when will you wake up and smell the inequality?
Today's enactment of a marriage equality law in Vermont marks the official end of the failed civil union era in America. Civil union laws now join the Edsel, New Coke and 8-Track Tapes in the dustbin of history's failed inventions.
New Jersey's separate and unequal civil union law is an abject embarrassment to the nearly nine million people who live in our progressive state. Vermont, the state that invented civil unions in 2000, passed a marriage equality law today because legislators have seen that civil unions did NOT work - and will never work - to provide equality as marriage would.
Vermont understands, and so does the clear majority of New Jerseyans who support marriage equality:
Civil unions are to equality what AIG bonuses are to corporate integrity.
The time to act is now.
Blue Jersey: Use the comments to let your legislators know what you want them to do.
Update 2 by Hopeful: More good news as the DC Council voted to recognize same sex marriages performed in other states today.
Update 3 by Jason Springer: Here is what GSE says you can do to help: Please call the following New Jersey legislators and tell them, "Vermont just enacted marriage equality because Vermont legislators understand that civil unions do not work to provide equality. I support marriage equality and I ask you, when will New Jersey do the same?"
The legislators we ask you call today, no matter where in New Jersey you live, are:
Senate President Dick Codey, (973) 731-6770
Senator Steve Sweeney, (856) 251-9801
Senator Fred Madden, (856) 232-6700 |
.gif)
