I am sure there is a majority in both houses of the state Legislature that supports same-sex marriage, but too many have failed to step up, moderates like state Sens. Bill Baroni and Jen Beck, who have stood up for gay rights and other socially liberal positions in the past, but have remained silent on the issue until now.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg have sponsored legislation — with 11 Assembly co-sponsors and five Senate co-sponsors — that deserves a hearing, and soon.
(There is a competing bill in the Assembly, voiding same-sex marriages, that is unlikely to get traction.)
The bills, both called the “Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act,” were introduced in June 2008, but remain dormant in both Judiciary committees. Sen. Paul Sarlo, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Tom Moran that he remains undecided.
“These are people I go to church with,” he said. “I’m leaning towards not supporting it. But I’m an open-minded person.”
Let’s hope so. It’s his ballgame for now.
Hank Kalet 
The Assembly gay marriage bill has 11 co-sponsors and it's time to move on it? A752, the Adoptees' Birthright Bill, with 23 co-sponsors, passed in the NJ Senate on March 3, 2008, in 2004 and 2006, as well, and is ready to be heard in the Assembly Human Services Committee which just MIGHT release it to the floor since 5 of its nine members are among the co-sponsors. What IS it about this (birth certificate) bill that would simply restore to NJ adopted persons the right to a copy of their original birth certificate that was sealed by the court upon finalization of their adoption? Opponents argue that birth mothers (no sexism here) were \”promised confidentiality\” upon relinquishment, but the birth certificates were not sealed until MONTHS after that, when the adoption proceedings took place in a county court. All that in-between time, those birth certificates were not sealed. if the child went into foster care, or an institution, or died, those birth certificates would not have been sealed. Incidentally, birth mothers were reminded in the relinquishment they had to sign that they would not be notified when (or if) their child was adopted. So where does that leave the \”confidentiality\” argument?A752 needs to be passed in this legislative session after 29 years and 11 months of hard labor on the part of its advocates, which include adoptees, all of their parents (birth and adoptive) and adoption professionals in NJ, around the US and in other countries as well. The man to contact is Speaker Joe Roberts who sets the agenda for Assembly bills through the remainder of this legislative session/ he may be reached at AsmRoberts@njleg.org.Pam Hasegawa, http://www.nj-care.orgMorristown