N.J. Assembly approves gay marriage; Christie vows veto

With no GOP help, the Democratic-led New Jersey Assembly narrowly approved legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, a measure that now goes to Republican Gov. Christie, who has vowed to "swiftly" veto it and instead wants a referendum on the issue.

The 42-33 Assembly vote Thursday followed similar approval Monday in the Senate, which voted, 24-16, in favor of the measure. Neither majority is large enough to override a veto.

Unlike in the Senate, no Republicans crossed over to vote for the bill in the Assembly. Four Democrats voted against it.

"I believe that all the civil-rights issues were solved on same-sex marriage back when we did civil unions," Assemblyman Nelson Albano (D., Cape May) said after the vote. "If I thought it was a civil-rights issue, I would have voted yes today." The term marriage should be reserved for heterosexual couples, he added.

New Jersey enacted civil unions in late 2006.

Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D., Passaic) said that as an Orthodox Jew, he could not vote yes.

"This is not something which my religion allows," he said, adding that his vote would not change if Christie vetoed the bill and the Assembly tried to override it.

In the Senate, two Republicans had voted in favor of the same-sex marriage bill, including Sen. Diane Allen of Burlington County.

Four members were absent for the Assembly vote, one Democrat and three Republicans.

Before the Assembly took up the bill, it honored a number of civil-rights heroes, including Thomas Mayfield of Willingboro, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen who fought during World War II.

The presentations dovetailed with Democrats' argument that denying marriage to same-sex couples deprives them of their civil rights. Civil unions, they argued, are an attempt to keep gays "separate but equal," an experiment that has failed. Same-sex couples sometimes struggle for recognition in medical situations or with their employers.

Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D., Camden) said a lesbian couple she knows was denied a mortgage because the women were forced to file for it separately.

"They could not say, 'We're married,' " she said.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex), the first African American woman to lead the chamber, said barring same-sex couples from marriage was no different from laws that once forbade members of different races to marry. Gay couples are fighting against "one of the last legalized barriers to equal rights," she said.