Yesterday, more than 300 ordinary citizens, including more than a few from Maplewood and adjacent towns, descended on Trenton to engage in the hallowed American tradition of petitioning their government.
It was the first day of the “lame duck” session of the New Jersey Legislature, and there are less than two months left for this legislative session to complete the business of passing laws. One such law, of particular interest to the citizen lobbyists in Trenton yesterday, is the unwieldy sounding “Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act,” [.pdf] a bill that would extend civil marriage equality to same-sex couples in New Jersey, while assuring that religious institutions may continue to define holy matrimony in accordance with their own faith traditions.
Although efforts have been progressing for eight years to enact marriage equality in New Jersey, time is now running out, since Gov. Jon S. Corzine has promised to sign the bill, but Gov.-elect Chris Christie has vowed to veto any such bill passed after he takes office in mid-January.
Those opposing marriage equality, led by the New Jersey Family Policy Council, had planned and publicized a lobby day for several weeks. Last Friday, Garden State Equality (GSE) took up the challenge and scheduled a counter-lobby day on three days’ notice.
Word spread rapidly on progressive blogs throughout the state, and yesterday more than 250 citizen lobbyists, including myself, assembled in Trenton to speak up for the right of same sex couples to marry, while another 75 or so showed up to oppose the bill.
For local participants, the day began with an early morning drive from Maplewood and adjacent towns to Trenton, by way of the Parkway and Turnpike. Gathering at a GSE office across from the State House at 8:30 AM, pro-equality participants quickly pulled on “Equality - The American Dream” T-shirts furnished by GSE, then paraded over to the State House.
Participants soon overflowed the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room, and there was an excited buzz in the air, even though the actual bill of interest was not on the agenda for the day. The goal was visibility, seeing and being seen by legislators and their staffs.
Prior to the start of the Judiciary Committee hearing, the large standing room portion of the audience was shepherded out of the hearing room to an adjacent overflow room, where they listened to a broadcast of one board appointment after another being debated by the committee.
Then, as noon approached, the citizen lobbyists filed out of the committee rooms, pulled on jackets and sweaters, and headed out to the front steps of the historic State House, where Garden State Equality held a press conference showcasing dozens of clergy who support marriage equality, surrounded by hundreds of supporters waving printed and hand-made signs.
Then, the citizen lobbyists headed back inside the State House, to the public gallery overlooking the floor of the elegant Senate chamber. Once again, every seat was taken and the aisles were filled to standing room capacity. The Senate met long enough to swear in the newest member of the Senate, Mike Doherty, to welcome Governor-elect Christie, also in attendance, and to hear a short speech from Sen. Doherty. Marriage equality was not on the official agenda, but again, the goal of the citizen lobbyists was to see and be seen.
That concluded the day of citizen activism, and on the way back to Maplewood and other towns throughout New Jersey, a few citizen lobbyists caught some shut-eye. Meanwhile the rest actively chatted and planned their upcoming trips to Trenton for the yet-to-be-scheduled Committee Hearings on the marriage equality bill, as the eight-year odyssey toward civil marriage equality comes down to its final climactic weeks.
Readers can get news about the next lobby days by signing up for e-mail alerts from Garden State Equality.
Steve Mershon is a Maplewood resident and frequent contributor to Maplewood Online. He is also moderator of the Yahoo email list-serv for Rainbow Families of Maplewood/South Orange.
Source:nytimes.com
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