Oliver said in a statement that she was offended by Christie's comment Tuesday that bloodshed might have been avoided in the South, and that people would have been happier, if the civil rights issues of the 1960's were settled in a referendum.
"Governor, people were fighting and dying in the streets of the South because the majority refused to grant minorities equal rights by any method," Oliver said. "It took legislative action to bring justice to all Americans, just as legislative action is the right way to bring marriage equality to all New Jerseyans."
Booker said during a news conference in Newark: "Dear God, we should not be putting civil-rights issues to a popular vote, to be subject to the sentiments, the passions, of the day. No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and the sentiments of the majority. This is the fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for."
The Republican governor defended himself at a Statehouse news conference and said he was offering a compromise on gay marriage.
"I'm in divided government and I'm trying to find a way for people . . . to find another pathway where everybody can have a chance to get what they want," he said. "My view is a public referendum on a constitutional amendment regarding same-sex marriage is a way to get to that result."
Six states and the District of Columbia permit gay marriages. Thirty-one states have adopted constitutional amendments that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
