The U.S. Supreme Court decisions about legislation regarding same-sex marriage has caused renewed the debate in New Jersey. Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25) told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that he believes the Supreme Court rulings on the matter were unnecessary.
“My thought has always been the Supreme Court ought to stay out of political decisions and that’s what this was. Society has defined marriage all by itself without courts getting involved for years and years and years and it could’ve done quite nicely now,” Carroll said.
Legislators in New Jersey approved a measure to permit same-sex marriage in the state, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the measure saying he would prefer to put the question up for a vote. Carroll if same-sex marriage is to become a fundamental right, then it should be in the Constitution and then has to go before voters.
“If it’s going to be a statute, which is how we’ve always defined marriage in the past, then it can be done by the legislature with the consent of the governor. Again, to my way of thinking, there’s nothing particularly evil about the proposal, it’s just unnecessary,” he said.
According to Carroll, gay individuals are treated the same way as straight individuals. “We already have marriage equality in this state. We treat every man the same and every woman the same,” he said. “All that we say and all that society’s ever said is are you presumptively capable of making a baby between the two of you? And if you are, you can get married.”
Gay rights advocates disagree with the idea that homosexual couples are treated the same as heterosexual couples. A lesbian widow in New York was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case because she was unable to collect money from the estate of her deceased partner. Carroll said, “Isn’t that wonderful that we’ve now finally developed one particular group of 1 percent-ers who the left actually thinks taxes should go down for? Wealthy lesbians. That’s the only tax cut I think they’ve ever supported.”
Carroll said his grandmother and aunt lived together for decades and when his aunt died, his grandmother couldn’t collect pension or Social Security benefits. “What’s the difference? ” he asked. “There are certain relationships that society blesses and certain that it doesn’t. And a procreative relationship has always been one that society blesses. If a gay relationship breaks up tomorrow from society’s perspective, so what? It may be of huge importance to the people, but from society’s perspective it’s not. Now as a matter of law, that’s why I oppose it. I don’t see the point in getting society involved. We shouldn’t say anything about gay relationships. They’re just not a matter of societal concern.”
A piece of legislation Carroll sponsored that got signed into law has to do with landfills in the Garden State. He said when the Fenimore Landfill in Roxbury was uncapped, it caused many problems that the Department of Environmental Protection couldn’t work on. “The idea [of the legislation] was to create some method whereby the DEP could go in and have the authority to act in such a fashion as to abate that problem immediately,” he explained.
Carroll said legislators have to be careful with environmental laws because they need to keep property rights in mind while also taking into account the public interest. “You want to make sure that your environment is not polluted by other people. When you have the stench of rotten eggs so bad you’re thinking about closing down schools and they don’t want to send the cops into the areas, that’s a problem. A lot of this stuff was created back before we knew any better. Well now we know better,” he said. “And so we have to be very careful around the edges. And when the state can act in such a fashion, it should.”
When asked if he believes more legislation is necessary, Carroll said, “Right now we’re surprised that they didn’t have the authority that we tried to give them with this one. It may be, it may not be. Any time the legislature acts, it’s sort of blunt force, so you gotta be careful. But that said, there are certain circumstances where the hammer is the appropriate tool.”