Gov. Chris Christie has followed through on his promise to reject a bill allowing same-sex marriage in New Jersey by quickly vetoing the measure in a typical Friday evening news dump.
The veto came a day after the state Assembly passed the bill. The state Senate had passed it on Monday. Christie, a Republican who opposes same-sex marriage, had vowed “very swift action” once the bill reached his desk.
Democrats who had pushed the bill forward said they were disappointed, but not surprised, by Christie’s action.
“He (Christie) had a chance to do the right thing, and failed miserably,” Senate President Steve Sweeney said.
In returning the bill to the Legislature, Christie reaffirmed his view that voters should decide whether to change the definition of marriage in New Jersey, something he talked about last month. “The fact of the matter is that I think people would have been happy to have a referendum, you know, on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South,” Christie said at the time. As Ed pointed out on Jan. 26, that was “just flat-out clueless, indefensible Psycho Talk.”
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