Christie calls for same-sex marriage referendum

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - Opening a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage, Gov. Christie called Tuesday for the issue to be put to voters in November as a proposed amendment to the state constitution.

The Republican governor's proposal, which would need three-fifths approval in the Legislature to be implemented, could for the first time in U.S. history ask voters to legalize same-sex marriage via a ballot question.

Christie's announcement came at an unusually timed news conference after a town-hall meeting in central New Jersey just as Democrats in Trenton held the first hearing on their new marriage-equality bill.

That bill, Christie said for the first time, will be vetoed if it reaches his desk because he opposes changing the institution of marriage. But a ballot question would avoid such an impasse, he argued, and be a more democratic way to "overturn hundreds of years of societal and religious tradition."

"This issue is too big and too consequential not to trust the people who will be governed ultimately by any change in law or maintenance of the current law," Christie said, suggesting that even the civil-rights battles of the 1960s could have been avoided had the issue been put to a referendum. "So I say today, let the people decide."

Moments later, back in Trenton, Democrats, who have made same-sex marriage their top legislative priority for the year and who control both houses, responded with a resounding "no."

"Civil rights will not be placed on the ballot," said Senate President Stephen Sweeney to applause from a jam-packed hearing room.

Shortly thereafter, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-4 along party lines for the same-sex-marriage bill, which now goes to a vote in the full Senate.

By urging Republican legislators to support his call for a referendum, Christie effectively took away any potential GOP support for the gay-marriage bill, Democrats said.

Several Republicans said Tuesday they favored Christie's proposal, and so Democratic hopes of pulling enough Republican support in the legislature to override a Christie veto of their bill appeared shattered.

Christie alleged that unspecified "elements" in the Democratic Party were trying to make the issue "into a political football," but he specifically said Sweeney was not one of them. "I do not question the sincerity of the Senate president one bit on this," he said.