Other, less melodramatic opponents of the proposed same-sex marriage bill also cited authorities from Hollywood, as well as history, biblical and otherwise.
Supporters of the bill pointed to their own share of luminaries - the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "the great writer Andrew Sullivan." And so numerous were members of the clergy that the hearing room looked like a chapel - albeit one consumed by deep theological disagreements.
Most fundamental among them: Are gay people born or made? Do we, like our fellow citizens, inherently possess the right to have our spousal relationship sanctioned by the state?
Or are we a misguided, if not malevolent, minority who have "chosen" a "lifestyle" and now seek a privilege so revolutionary or potentially toxic to the body politic that the majority simply must have a chance to weigh in?
Some version of the latter appears to be the view of Chris "No Fan of Gay Marriage" Christie. The governor and potential GOP vice presidential candidate adroitly upstaged Tuesday's proceedings by suggesting, at a simultaneous news conference in Bridgewater, that the state hold a referendum on marriage equality.
The news was helpfully relayed to the packed hearing in Trenton by Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R., Somerset), whose support Garden State Equality had hoped for.
The game-changing call for a referendum, as well as Christie's newly explicit vow to veto the bill, not only gives Bateman and his fellow Republicans a magical expanse of middle ground, it also backs the Democrats into a corner.
It enables the GOP in "liberal" New Jersey to avoid explicitly opposing marriage equality. The party can simply watch its likely demise. After all, this is America. Why not let the people speak?
