Kudos to Minnesota for clearing the first hurdle toward marriage equality.
A 75-59 vote Thursday in the Minnesota state House is the first step toward adoption of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. The state Senate is expected to pass it next week and Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to sign it into law, according to The Huffington Post.
That will make 12 states that have legalized same-sex marriage, with most having done so through the courts and the vast majority being on the East Coast.
Conspicuously absent, of course, is New Jersey, which has passed marriage-equality legislation only to have it vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie. Christie opposes same-sex marriage, but has said he would allow for a public referendum — where, if the polling is any indication, it likely would pass.
This raises some questions. The idea that a minority population must seek approval of the majority via a referendum before they can be granted their civil rights is, in an of itself, a violation of those rights. That is essentially why the state’s gay-rights groups and Sen. President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) have been unwilling to support a referendum.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), one of only two openly gay members of the state Legislature and sponsor of the original bill, long held the same opinion, though his views have evolved as the issue has stalled.
“Civil rights delayed is civil rights denied so this is our only option at this point.”
He’s introduced legislation in December — with cosponsor Upendra Chivukula (D-Somerset) — putting it before voters, but it has not been scheduled for a vote by the Assembly Judiciary Committee and is unlikely to end up on the 2013 ballot.
There remains a chance that enough Republicans will change their votes during the December-January lame-duck session, but it will be difficult. The original marriage-equality vote was 24-16 in the Senate and 42-33 in the Assembly, but 27 Senators and 54 Assembly members are needed for a veto — a shift of three senators and 12 Assembly members. Those close to the vote say there are at least three senators ready to back an override, but finding the dozen Assembly members — of both parties — needed is going to be a tall order.
I wouldn’t expect anything to change on the issue in New Jersey at least until 2014, and even that is being optimistic.
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Hank Kalet 