Marriage Passes NJ Senate

As expected the New Jersey Senate today voted 24-16 to approve its marriage equality bill. The bill should pass even more easily in the state Assembly. Gov. Chris Christie has vowed to veto the bill. Proponents need 27 Senate and 54 Assembly votes for an override of the veto.

NJ Senate Votes On Marriage Today

The New Jersey Senate will likely approve its marriage equality bill today.

The measure is expected to pass there today and also in the Assembly on Thursday. But that will be far from the end of the story. The state Senate voted against a similar measure in January 2010. Senate President Stephen Sweeney abstained on the bill then, but he's now one of the Legislature's leading advocates for same-sex matrimony. Gov. Chris Christie says he'll veto the bill if it comes to his desk, giving proponents nearly two years to try to muster enough votes to override it.

Two years to override? Can that be right?

At Today's NJ Marriage Hearing

LIVE AUDIO: NJ Senate Marriage Hearing

Click on Judiciary.

NJ Senate Responds To Veto Threat

Maddow On DADT Hearings

Last night Rachel Maddow covered the DADT repeal testimony of retired Gen. John Sheehan, who outrageously claimed that openly gay soldiers in the Dutch military caused the failure of the NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia, resulting in the genocide of thousands of Muslim men and boys. The second half of this clip is an interview with well-spoken former Air Force Maj. Mike Almy, who was fired for being gay.

NJ Senate Roll Call

YES (14)

Sen. Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic)
Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex),
Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), co-sponsor
Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex)
Sen. Teresa M. Ruiz (D-Essex)
Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Hudson)
Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson)
Sen. Nia H. Gill (D-Essex)
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), co-sponsor
Sen. Robert M. Gordon (D-Bergen)
Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union)
Sen. Joseph F.Vitale (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer)

NO (20)
Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May)
Sen. Ronald L. Rice (D- Essex)
Sen. John A. Girgenti (D-Passaic
Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) .
Sen. Fred H. Madden (D-Gloucester)
Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D-Mercer)
Sen. Robert W. Singer (R-Ocean)
Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris)
Sen. Christopher Bateman, (R-Somerset)
Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R -Union)
Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth )
Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos (R-Monmouth)
Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen)
Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Hunterdon)
Sen. Kevin J. O'Toole (R-Essex)
Sen. Philip E. Haines (R-Burlington)
Sen. Christopher J. Connors (R-Ocean)
Sen. Anthony R. Bucco (R-Morris)
Sen. Steven V. Oroho (R-Sussex)
Sen. Sean T. Kean (R-Monmouth)

ABSTENTIONS (3)
Sen. Paul A. Sarlo (D-Bergen)
Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester)
Sen. James Beach (D-Camden)

DID NOT ATTEND SESSION (2)
Sen. Diane B. Allen (R-Burlington)
Sen. Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean)

(Via - Good As You)

New Jersey Marriage Vote Reaction

Watch the woman in red.

Tweet Of The Day - NOM

Live Stream: NJ Senate Marriage Vote

Here's the link for the live stream of today's marriage equality vote in the New Jersey Senate. The session is scheduled to begin at 2pm EST. Things should get underway shortly.

UPDATE: The session appears to be delayed for at least an hour. Here's a video live-stream link. The above is audio-only. NJ residents can also watch on Comcast 262 and Verizon 476.

UPDATE II: The debate is underway now. The vote will come after.

NJ Senator Vs. Anti-Gay Hater

Good As You points us to this clip from today's morning news in which Len Deo of the NJ Family Policy Council and NJ Sen. Ray Lesniak trade jabs about this afternoon's vote. Surprise, surprise, Deo wants it put to a public vote. Lesniak says that if the vote fails as expected, they're taking their case to the Supreme Court.

SHOCKER: NJ Senate To Vote On Marriage Equality This Thursday

Stunning observers, this afternoon the NJ Senate announced that they would, after all, hold a vote on marriage equality on this Thursday. The bill is unlikely to pass.

There will in fact be a vote on gay marriage in the lame duck session of the New Jersey state legislature on Thursday, NBCNewYork.com has learned. "We're gonna post the bill and see what happens," Senate President Dick Codey told us. Codey, and even sponsors of same sex marriage legislation are skeptical if there are enough votes to pass in the State Senate. For days now, Codey has been weighing whether or not to allow a vote in the waning days of this session, which ends next Monday. "The members for the most part said go ahead and post it," Codey explained in coming to his decision, while acknowledging there was a minority of his fellow democrats who urged him not to bring it to a vote. Codey said he will post it for debate and a vote Thursday afternoon.

At least, as in New York, we'll learn where to aim our efforts for the 2010 election.

NJ Marriage Vote Postponed

Tomorrow's scheduled NJ Senate vote on marriage equality has been postponed until the bill can be heard by the state Assembly Judiciary Committee. The lower body has not yet made a vote on the issue.

Sens. Ray Lesniak (D-Union) and Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) said the bill -- which was up for passage on Thursday -- instead will likely be introduced in the Assembly Judiciary Committee in preparation for a vote by the lower house. The lawmakers said they expect Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) to agree to the delay. Codey, who had posted the bill on Thursday's agenda, could not immediately be reached for comment this afternoon. Lesniak said he still expects a vote on same-sex marriage in both houses before the end of the lame-duck legislative session in January.

Advocates are pushing for passage of the bill before Gov. Jon Corzine leaves office Jan. 19. Corzine supports the measure, while incoming Gov. Chris Christie says he will veto it. While even proponents conceded this week that passage was in doubt, Lesniak and Weinberg said they were not postponing the debate because they lacked the 21 votes to succeed in the Senate. They said they want Assembly members to engage in the public dialogue and hear the testimony from both sides that senators already have been exposed to. "We think this is the fairest way to proceed, and anybody on the other side can say whatever they want to say," Weinberg said.

A positive vote from the NJ Senate could have pushed over at least a few votes in the state Assembly, so this isn't great news. And here I was all set for another eight-hour live blogathon tomorrow night, something I've done, what, four times in the last six weeks?

UPDATE: According to an excerpted blog post on Blue Jersey, the postponement IS a good thing. But the Assembly vote may not come until early January, perilously close to Chris Christie's inauguration on the 19th.

Here is the bottom line: the votes are not there in the Senate. And it appears as though they are there in the Assembly - to clear the both the Judiciary committee and to pass the full house. Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts is unlikely to give dates for the upcoming hearing and subsequent floor debate, but I understand it could be early January. Initially, members of the Assembly had said they would not consider gay marriage until the Senate passed the bill. That thinking seems to have now been turned on its head.

NOM Issues Action Alert On New Jersey

Today NOM sent out an "Urgent Action Needed!" alert to their mailing list, asking that their fellow haters contact the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee and urge that marriage equality not be passed to the full state Senate for a vote. Let's use NOM's own list.

Sen. Paul Sarlo (Chair): (201) 804-8118
Sen. John Girgenti (Vice-Chair): (973) 427-1229
Sen. Bill Baroni: (609) 631-9988
Sen. Christopher Bateman: (908) 526-3600
Sen. Jennifer Beck: (732) 933-1591
Sen. Gerard Cardinale: (201) 567-2324
Sen. Nia Gill: (973) 509-0388
Sen. Joseph Kyrillos: (732) 671-3206
Sen. Raymond Lesnick: (908) 624-0880
Sen. Nicholas Scutari: (908) 587-0404
Sen. Bob Smith: (732) 752-0770
Sen. Brian Stack: (201) 861-5091
Sen. Loretta Weinberg: (201) 928-0100

Call now, the vote is scheduled for this afternoon.

Will NY Senate Vote On Marriage Today?

Rumors are leaking out here and there that the New York Senate will vote on marriage equality today.

A spokesperson for State Senator Dale Volker says the controversial same sex marriage bill could be voted on today in the senate. s for the battle to plug New York's multi-billion dollar budget crisis, Governor David Paterson says negotiations with lawmakers are over and he's taking the deficit into his own hands by reducing and possibly delaying state aid to schools, hospitals and local government services. However, lawmakers say progress is being made in closed door meetings.

At this point, most of us see the New York Senate as Lucy with the football. I'm not holding my breath.

NJ Marriage Bill May Stall In Committee

The chair of the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee said late this afternoon that the marriage equality bill may not make it out of the committee for a full vote.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo said he would not bring up the bill in the Judiciary Committee he chairs unless enough votes exist to pass it on to the full Senate. The Bergen County Democrat said that, currently, the bill does not have sufficient support in the committee for a recommendation to the Senate. "Today, as I stand here, we do not have the votes in the Judiciary Committee," Sarlo said after he and Christie toured the Xanadu entertainment complex under construction in the Meadowlands. "Until somebody can demonstrate that we have the votes in the Judiciary Committee, it will not be posted." Gay rights activists are pushing lawmakers to adopt a bill before Corzine leaves office in January.

Hmm, he says this right after a publicity tour with the governor-elect, Chris Christie. I wonder what they talked about?