A brand new Quinnipiac University poll of likely New Jersey voters finds they favor same-sex marriage 59% to 33%. So why are the state’s legislators so determined not to put this question to the people?
It’s a good question. Right now, Democrats are bashing Gov. Chris Christie for appealing a ruling by state Judge Mary Jacobson, which found New Jersey’s law discriminatory and ordered the state to start allowing same-sex marriages Oct. 21.
But on Friday the state’s Supreme Court agreed to hear Christie’s appeal. The high court will also rule on the governor’s request for a stay of Jacobson’s ruling before the Oct. 21 deadline.
Gov. Christie makes clear that he believes in the traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. And last year he vetoed a bill that would change that. But he’s also made clear that if the people of New Jersey voted otherwise, he would accept that decision and uphold what they’ve decided. That’s the right way, he says, to institute a big change on a sensitive issue that divides many people.
So the question is: Why haven’t the gay-rights groups and legislators now attacking Christie called his bluff? Not only has the New Jersey state legislature declined to get the question on the November ballot — it only takes a three-fifths vote in each chamber to put it before the people — it hasn’t even bothered to try to override Christie’s veto from last year.
The basis of our democratic system of government is that the people get to decide these issues. We should have learned from Roe v. Wade that when courts intervene to legislate from the bench, far from resolving an issue, they simply launch a culture war. Surely, if New Jersey is to approve gay marriage, it ought to be done in the least divisive way.
All of which puts Christie’s critics in an odd place. They seem to distrust the voters who seem to back them. They argue they don’t want a referendum because an asserted “civil right” shouldn’t be put to a vote of the people.
Tell that to the citizens of Maryland, Maine and Washington — who all approved gay-marriage referenda over the last year. If the polls are right, why are Jersey’s Democrats so unwilling to take their case to the people?
Maybe it’s because that would force legislators to go on the record on a major social issue. How much easier to let a judge do the hard work.
We’re with Christie: Let the people of New Jersey decide this one.