By Dari Kotzker
NJ Today
Nancy Wilkinson and Liz Flanagan of Westfield have been partners for 30 years, entered a civil union, have kids and grand-kids. Nearly a week after the Supreme Court Decision to end the Defense of Marriage Act, they were joined by Senate Democratic leadership at their home, to help put a face to those who cannot legally marry in New Jersey.
“To begin to feel again like a second class citizen has been depressing especially after the initial elation that was brought by the decision. And certainly with the DOMA ruling looming and happening, which was wonderful, it’s disappointing, it’s a setback to feel like all of a sudden what we had for a while isn’t really real,” Wilkinson said.
Senate President Steve Sweeney and gubernatorial candidate Sen. Barbara Buono were among those who spoke on the importance of overriding Gov. Chris Christie’s veto of the marriage equality bill in 2012. They chose Westfield for today’s news conference, a town that’s also home to Republican Minority Leader Sen. Tom Kean Jr. Senate Democrats would need 27 out of 40 votes, three more than they had when passing the legislation. The Assembly would need 54.
“It’s time for the Republicans to recognize that issues such as this cannot be party positions, so we’re here today to call on our Republican colleagues and the leader of the Republican minority to take off the order and allow people to vote their conscience,” Sweeney said.
“This is a governor, there’s one man in New Jersey that stands in the way of marriage equality, one man who is saying that their love is just not as good as everyone else’s,” Buono said.
On last week’s “On the Record,” Gov. Christie said gay marriage should be voted by the people as a referendum. The Democrats say civil rights issues shouldn’t be on the ballot.
“I’ve said all along, that I realize what a difficult issue this is for a lot of folks and if it were voted yes by the people of New Jersey, I would enforce that law and uphold that section of the Constitution with as much vigor as I do everything else according to my oath,” Christie said.
Sweeney says he’ll attempt an override as soon as the marriage equality advocates give him the go ahead. The head of Garden State Equality wouldn’t give a specific timeline, but he did say they are getting closer to the number of votes needed.
“We’ve had many members say with DOMA, it’s a game changer. Because now you have the court saying it ain’t legal. We’re supposed to write laws that are legal. It’s not a legal law. There’s a way to correct it and that’s called marriage equality,” Sweeney said.
And how is this issue helping Sen. Buono’s campaign, especially after her daughter publicly announced she is gay?
“I was in the pride parade in New York over the weekend, and I had people coming up to me that knew Tessa,” Buono said. “And they confided in me that they came out to me and they said, ‘You’re the only one that knows.'”
Gay rights activists are also pursuing court action to win the right to marry.