Knights Of Columbus Join Anti-Marriage Equality Battle In New Jersey

The Knights of Columbus and other groups are working to get an anti-marriage equality referendum put on New Jersey's 2010 ballot.

Organizations opposed to letting gay or lesbian couples marry are urging lawmakers to put a question on the 2010 ballot asking voters whether to amend the state constitution to ban such unions. While there's still time to get a referendum on this year's ballot, conservative activists said at a Wednesday news conference that it's not practical to think officials would put such a question on the ballot in a gubernatorial election year. Such a route would also mean the Legislature could put a question on the ballot without the three-fifths supermajority usually used to propose constitutional amendments. Proposals passed two years in a row by a simple majority also are presented to voters.

Jim White of the New Jersey Knights of Columbus says homosexuality is "inherently unhealthy" and that New Jersey "should discourage it." White: "Frankly, government does not have the right to meddle with marriage." Garden State Equality wants the legislature to vote on the issue now, but no vote is likely before the November gubernatorial election.