Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) has announced that the recently passed (House vote 61-52 Senate vote 32-24)  Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act will be signed into law early in the new year, and the measure will go into effect on July 1, 2011.

On that date, Illinois will join California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey and Nevada as the 6th state with a state-based scheme to comprehensively recognize and protect same-sex couples under state law as extensively as they can without giving them access to marriage.

Previously New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont had civil unions but have since enacted marriage equality. Iowa, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia also allow same-sex couples to marry.

Hawaii Legislature Sends Civil Unions Bill To Gov

The Hawaii Assembly completed work on HB444 by approving the measure by a vote of 31-20 months after rejecting the measure almost exactly three months ago. The bill passed the Senate by a veto-proof majority and in 2009 had passed the House by a veto-proof majority. Republican Governor Linda Lingle has not said whether she would sign the bill into law or not.
If HB444 does become law, Hawaii would join Oregon, Washington, California, New Jersey and Nevada who have comprehensive "everything but marriage" statutes.

WATCH: Reaction To NJ Marriage Equality Defeat

Watch the woman in red's reaction. No class whatsoever.

Gay marriage bill defeated in New Jersey Senate

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

NJ Senate Defeats Marriage Bill 14-20

The New Jersey State Senate just voted 14 Yes, 20 No (4 people abstained or did not vote but were present and 2 were absent) to defeat the marriage equality bill.

UPDATED 02:59 PDT 01/07/2010
Here's the roll-call vote:

YES (14)

Sen. Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic)
Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex),
Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), co-sponsor
Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex)
Sen. Teresa M. Ruiz (D-Essex)
Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Hudson)
Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson)
Sen. Nia H. Gill (D-Essex)
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), co-sponsor
Sen. Robert M. Gordon (D-Bergen)
Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union)
Sen. Joseph F.Vitale (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer)

NO (20)

Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May)
Sen. Ronald L. Rice (D- Essex)
Sen. John A. Girgenti (D-Passaic
Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) .
Sen. Fred H. Madden (D-Gloucester)
Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D-Mercer)
Sen. Robert W. Singer (R-Ocean)
Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris)
Sen. Christopher Bateman, (R-Somerset)
Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R -Union)
Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth )
Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos (R-Monmouth)
Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen)
Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Hunterdon)
Sen. Kevin J. O'Toole (R-Essex)
Sen. Philip E. Haines (R-Burlington)
Sen. Christopher J. Connors (R-Ocean)
Sen. Anthony R. Bucco (R-Morris)
Sen. Steven V. Oroho (R-Sussex)
Sen. Sean T. Kean (R-Monmouth)

ABSTENTIONS (3)

Sen. Paul A. Sarlo (D-Bergen)
Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester)
Sen. James Beach (D-Camden)

DID NOT ATTEND SESSION (2)

Sen. Diane B. Allen (R-Burlington)
Sen. Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean)

The 3 abstentions (who bizarrely attended the historic session but did not vote on the bill!) and the 6 Democrats who voted NO to equaliy deserve a special place in Hell--if I believed in such a mythical concept!

Kudos go to Bill Barroni, the one Republican who stood up to incoming Governor Chris Christie (R) and voted against the idea that there should be one set of laws for some people, instead of for all the people.

Marriage Equality Bill Expected To Pass...in PORTUGAL!

A bill is pending to legalize marriage equality in a very Catholic jurisdiction. Yes, that is true in the state of New Jersey, but it is also true in the country of Portugal! The difference is that New Jersey's vote is today and Monday, while Portugal's vote is Friday. Oh and the small difference that Portugal's measure is expected to become law with only token opposition.

Catholic Portugal, traditionally one of Europe's most socially conservative countries, is expected to approve the legalisation of gay marriage on Friday with a minimum of fuss.

With the governing Socialists and other left-wing parties enjoying a strong majority, the new law is likely to sail through the first reading debate and gain final approval before a visit by Pope Benedict XVI, due in Portugal in May.

In contrast to Spain, where the lead-up to the legalisation of gay marriage in 2005 brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets, the bill in Portugal has provoked only muted opposition even from the right.

While normally vocal on the role of marriage and the family in society, the Catholic Church has refused to mobilise on a subject which, according to Lisbon's Cardinal Patriarch Jose Policarpo, is "parliament's responsibility".

"I think the Portuguese people have learnt one of the fundamental tenets of democracy: respect for the rights of the individual," Miguel Vale de Almeida, Portugal's first openly-gay lawmaker who was elected in September, told AFP.

Vale de Almeida, who is the Socialists' pointman on the legislation, said there is now a political majority in favour of gay marriage and that it is "too simplistic to link Catholicism and conservatism."

According to poll conducted late last year by the Eurosondagem institute, while a strong majority (68.4 percent) of Portuguese are opposed to adoptions by same-sex couples, they are more evenly divided when it comes to gay marriage with 49.5 percent against, with 45.5 percent in favour.

Let's hope things go as well in New Jersey today!

NJ Senate To Vote on Marriage Equality Bill Thu 1/8

After a month of contentious debate following the 7-6 passage in the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee it has become clearer that it is unlikely there are the votes to pass a marriage equality bill through the New Jersey legislature for Governor Jon Corzine's signature before he leaves office on January 19th.

However, on Thursday January 8th the full New Jersey State Senate will vote on the measure, S1967.

"Given the intensely personal nature of this issue, I think the people of this state deserve the right to a formal debate on the Senate floor," Codey said.

With many legislators refusing to say where they stand, Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), a sponsor, said the vote forces them to "stand up and be counted on how they feel about equal rights."

"They can’t be hesitant anymore," Weinberg said. "They have to come to the realization that we were elected to take sometimes difficult stands, but we were not elected to only worry about the next election."

Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen), an opponent of the bill, said there isn’t enough support in either house to pass the measure but declined to say it would fail in the Senate.

"I have no way of getting into anybody’s head and saying how they’re going to go," Cardinale said. "Maybe they’re hoping that the debate will inflame people or that there will be folks who say outrageous things."

Senate Majority Leader and incoming Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) declined to say how he would vote, but said gay marriage supporters "have made a very strong case about civil rights — one that’s hard to ignore, to be perfectly honest with you."

Roberts said today the gay marriage divide in the Assembly is "very, very, very close," and his colleagues had been reluctant to vote on the bill only to see it go down in the Senate.

"A lot of Assembly people have said, ‘We want to support it, but we frankly want to know that it’s going to pass both houses,’" said Roberts (D-Camden). "And I think that’s a similar view in the Senate, that this has to be a reality in both houses. It’s simple mathematics."

If the bill clears the Senate, Roberts said he will post it in the full Assembly "immediately" Monday without a committee hearing, a day before leadership changes in both houses. Gov. Jon Corzine has pledged to sign it and today said "marriage equality is an idea whose time has come." Gov.-elect Chris Christie, who opposes gay marriage, takes office Jan. 19.

Keep your fingers crossed!

BREAKING NEWS: NJ Senate Marriage Vote Delayed

THIS JUST IN: The New Jersey Sate Senate vote on marriage equality that was scheduled for tomorrow is likely going to be postponed, to wait for the lower House to pass S1967 first.

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) has agreed to postpone the vote until the Assembly Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on the measure.

While disappointed the vote was delayed, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) said it was a good thing that more members of the public would be able to have their say as the lower house debates the issue.

Roberts, an outspoken supporter of the legislation, added that no hearing has been scheduled as of yet and the bill is still being discussed within his caucus.

“At this point, this much is clear -- our civil union law has failed to live up to even the most modest of hopes and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children,” Roberts said in a statement.

Lesniak said he still expects a vote on same-sex marriage in both houses before the end of the lame-duck legislative session in January. Advocates are pushing for passage of the bill before Gov. Jon Corzine leaves office Jan. 19. Corzine supports the measure, while incoming Gov. Chris Christie says he will veto it.

I think the State Senate wants to make sure that they are taking the last legislative action on the bill before it reaches Governor Corzine's desk. I think it will be great if the New Jersey General Assembly becomes the sixth lower state legislative body to pass a marriage equality bill this year (after Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York have all done so).

NJ Senate Committee Passes Marriage Equality Bill 7-6

The New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee, consisting of 8 Democrats and 5 Republicans voted 7-6 to send the marriage equality bill, S1967, to the floor of the State Senate on Monday after more than 7 hours of debate.

Blue Jersey summarized the committee thusly:

Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen): Chairman, opponent of marriage equality. Doesn't have a law degree.
John Girgenti (D-Passaic): Vice Chairman
Nia Gill (D-Essex): Black Senator from Montclair, a diverse college town with a large gay population. Strong supporter of marriage equality
Ray Lesniak (D-Union): Sharp, articulate lawmaker who led the fight to abolish the death penalty in New Jersey. Strong supporter of marriage equality.
Nick Scutari (D-Union): a supporter of marriage equality.
Bob Smith (D-Middlesex): a supporter of marriage equality. Smith represents a liberal district in Central NJ which includes New Brunswick and Piscataway.
Brian Stack (D-Hudson): a supporter of marriage equality. Stack is also mayor of Union City, and an powerful Hudson County political boss.
Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen): the sponsor of the bill and a progressive stalwart in the legislature.
Bill Baroni (R-Mercer): very smart, well-liked Republican, and a supporter of marriage equality
Christopher Bateman (R-Somerset)
Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth): a wild card, and an up-and-comer in the Republican party.
Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen): probably the most outspoken opponent on the committee. A dentist by trade; has no law degree.
Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth): former R party chair, probably an opponent.

Sarlo and Girgenti were two Democrats who voted against the bill, while Baroni was the only Republican, for the bipartisan total of 7-6. The vote on the floor of the Senate will be on Thursday December 10th. Democrats hold a 23-17 advantage in the chamber but the vote tally on the marriage equality is unknown.

After last week's stunning 24-38 defeat in a body with 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans of New York's marriage equality bill due to traitorous Democrats and cowardly Republicans, LGBT activists are more than a little nervous about this week's vote on marriage.

New Jersey Marriage Equality Vote Set For Dec 10

Following on the devastating defeat of a marriage equality bill by a vote of 24-38 in neighboring New York thanks to the defection of feckless Democrats and duplicitous Republicans, New Jersey State Senators will get their chance to weigh in on the rights of same-sex couples to have equal access to civil marriage on Tuesday December 7th during a Judiciary Committee hearing and floor vote on Thursday December 10th.

"On Thursday (Dec. 10) the full Senate is going to vote on marriage equality," said [State Senator Raymond J. ] Lesniak [D-Union], a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "And God be willing, we'll have 21 votes."

Democratic officials previously said they would not put the legislation to a vote unless they had the support needed to pass it.

After hearing for months that the head of the local LGBT political group, the openly gay member of the State Senate and the Governor of the State were all confident that the measure would pass in New York, I really have no idea what will happen next week. I do think it is important to have these votes; it is important for politicians to be put on the public record for where they stand relative to their private commitments to the LGBT community.

Marriage Update: New York and New Jersey

Interesting developments in the fight for marriage equality in New York and New Jersey in the last few days.

First, yesterday the New York Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) ruled unanimously to reject a legal challenge to the policy that New York same-sex couples married out of state must have those marriages recognized in the state.

In their majority ruling, four of the seven members of the court said they were making their decision on narrow grounds involving the specifics of each case, and not settling the broader question of whether same-sex marriages performed in other states should be recognized. Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr., writing for the majority, expressed “hope that the Legislature will address this controversy.”

But in a concurring decision, three of the justices said that the court should have addressed the wider issue because New York law already allows for the recognition of marriages that are considered legal elsewhere.

Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, who wrote the concurring decision, said “that the orders under review should be affirmed on the ground that same-sex marriages, valid where performed, are entitled to full legal recognition in New York under our state’s longstanding marriage recognition rule.”

The New York State Senate is expected to vote on a marriage equality bill before the end of the year.

And in New Jersey, a poll was released showing that a plurality support marriage equality, and a slim majority would support a bill, if the legislature legalized the practice.

The poll, conducted between Nov. 6 and 10, found 46 percent of adult residents want to extend the right to gay couples while 42 percent oppose it. Still undecided were 12 percent of respondents.

[...]

If lawmakers pass the bill legalizing gay marriage, 52 percent would accept the new law, while 40 percent would support a constitutional amendment banning it, the poll said.

Go New York and New Jersey!

NYT Op-Ed in Favor of NY and NJ Marriage Equality

The New York Times has published an op-ed calling for the Governors of New York and New Jersey to act on marriage equality bills in light of last week's elections:

Voters in Washington State approved a ballot measure endorsing a new law granting gay and lesbian couples the same state-provided benefits that heterosexual couples have.

In other good news, voters in Kalamazoo, Mich., declined to overturn a new law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations. Voters elected their first openly gay City Council members in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Detroit. Chapel Hill, N.C., elected its first openly gay mayor.

By sad contrast, voters in Maine — by a slim margin, and following an aggressive, narrow-minded campaign led by the forces of the religious right — repealed the state’s new law extending the freedom to marry to same-sex couples.

[...]

The big battlegrounds now are New York and New Jersey. New York’s governor, David Paterson, has called the Legislature back to Albany. The budget crisis heads the agenda, but gay rights must be there, too. The Assembly has already approved legislation giving same-sex couples the freedom to marry. Democratic leaders need to allow debate to proceed, and rally the Senate’s 62 members to follow suit.

In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine’s loss to Christopher Christie means that the Legislature must move urgently to approve marriage equality. Mr. Corzine has said he would sign the bill. Mr. Christie has said he would veto it. Legislators must act before Jan. 19, when the government changes hands.

Next Step in Marriage Equality Fight: New Jersey

There is a very good chance that the District of Columbia, New Jersey and New York will pass marriage equality bills through their legislatures in the next few weeks (definitely before the end of the year).

First up is the Garden State, with now lame-duck Governor Jon Corzine widely expected to sign the bill into law if it passes the legislature before a Republican Governor is sworn in in January.

To support the New Jersey effort, watch the videos above, and go to Garden State Equality's website to support their effort to pass marriage equality in the next six weeks.

Gay Marriage Tipping Point Reached?

Kevin Drum and Joe.My.God both blogged about the above graph from Andrew Gelman at FiveThirtyEight.com in the last few days. The key paragraphs are:

Jeff Lax and Justin Phillips put together a dataset using national opinion polls from 1994 through 2009 and analyzed several different opinion questions on gay rights. Here I'm going to talk about their estimates of state-by-state trends in support for gay marriage.

In the past fifteen years, gay marriage has increased in popularity in all fifty states. No news there, but what was a surprise to me is where the largest changes have occurred. The popularity of gay marriage has increased fastest in the states where gay rights were already relatively popular in the 1990s.

In 1995, support for gay marriage exceeded 30% in only six states: New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and Vermont. In these states, support for gay marriage has increased by an average of almost 20 percentage points. In contrast, support has increased by less than 10 percentage points in the six states that in 1995 were most anti-gay-marriage--Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Idaho.

These are definitely important and interesting observations, but digging deeper, there is even more.

Most other commenters did not also discuss this even more interesting graph, which shows the current percentage of people who, when polled who support marriage for same-sex couples and/or civil unions.

Looking closely at the dark red dots, notice that marriage for same-sex couples is basically only legal in the states where it is above 50 percent. The three states which have marriage (within margin of error) at 50 percent but do not have marriage equality right now are Rhode Island, California and New York.

Clearly, a state to look at closely at in the future is Iowa which legalized marriage equality though a unanimous court decision in April.

Other interesting data to include here would be to indicate the states which have comprehensive non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation (and gender identity).

Maine Gov Signs Marriage Bill Into Law!!

Pam's House Blend is reporting that Governor Jim Baldacci, Democrat of Maine, has signed LD 1020 into law, making Maine the 5th state in the United States to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage. Maine becomes the third state this year (after Iowa and Vermont) to enact same-sex marriage, with New Hampshire, New Jersey and even New York expected to follow by the end of the year.

Here's Baldacci's statement on why he signed Maine's marriage equality bill into law:

“I have followed closely the debate on this issue. I have listened to both sides, as they have presented their arguments during the public hearing and on the floor of the Maine Senate and the House of Representatives. I have read many of the notes and letters sent to my office, and I have weighed my decision carefully,” Governor Baldacci said. “I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste.”

“I appreciate the tone brought to this debate by both sides of the issue,” Governor Baldacci said. “This is an emotional issue that touches deeply many of our most important ideals and traditions. There are good, earnest and honest people on both sides of the question.”

“In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions,” Governor Baldacci said. “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.”

“Article I in the Maine Constitution states that ‘no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor be denied the equal protection of the laws, nor be denied the enjoyment of that person’s civil rights or be discriminated against.’”

“This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs. It does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of Church and State,” Governor Baldacci said.

“It guarantees that Maine citizens will be treated equally under Maine’s civil marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of government.”

“Even as I sign this important legislation into law, I recognize that this may not be the final word,” Governor Baldacci said. “Just as the Maine Constitution demands that all people are treated equally under the law, it also guarantees that the ultimate political power in the State belongs to the people.”

“While the good and just people of Maine may determine this issue, my responsibility is to uphold the Constitution and do, as best as possible, what is right. I believe that signing this legislation is the right thing to do,” Governor Baldacci said.

From your mouth to California Chief Justice Ronald George's ears. The California Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 by June 3, and it rumored that it may announce its decision as soon as Thursday May 7th or Monday May 11th. MadProfessah has his money on Thursday May 21.

NYT Prods NJ and NJ Towards Marriage Equality

Yesterday, the New York Times editorialized in favor of the bills pending in the two states (NY and NJ) in the Tri-State area with Democratic governors waiting to sign them into law.

The vote gave Vermont another important first. Although three other states — Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa — now allow same-sex marriage, the new Vermont law, which goes into effect on Sept. 1, made Vermont the only state to achieve that progress through legislative action rather than a court ruling.

Coming less than a week after the crucial ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court that extended same-sex marriage to a state in the nation’s heartland, and with bills to follow suit under consideration in several other state capitals, the welcome move by the Vermont Legislature adds a vital sense of momentum and democratic duty to this civil rights struggle.

Lawmakers in New York and New Jersey, in particular, have marriage bills pending and Democratic governors ready to sign them. There should be no further delay in enacting these measures.

Emphasis added by MadProfessah. I particularly like the use of the words "this civil rights struggle" in the context of marriage equality.

New Jersey Poised To End Death Penalty and Enact Gay Marriage

Great news from New Jersey! (Obligatory Joisey Joke: "I don't write that very often!") The state Legislature, controlled by Democrats, has passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in the Garden State. Governor Jon Corzine has stated that he intends to sign the bill into law.

Last week Pam's House Blend highlighted the fact that fundies have practically admitted defeat at preventing the legislative enactment of marriage equality in New Jersey.

These are two more examples of why elections matter and what can happen when Democrats control the legislative and executive branches of government.

Marriage and Domestic Partnerships Roundup

There's some interesting developments in the news about marriage and domestic partnerships.


In Rhode Island, the General Assembly has over-ridden the veto of a bill to provide domestic partners of public employees with the same pension and retirement benefits as spouses.


In New Jersey, the Rutgers-Eagleton poll was released which found that 48% of respondents supported marriage for same-sex couples while 44% oppose legalization of gay marriage.

NJ Governor Sign Civil Unions, Needle Exchange and Gender Identity Bills Into Law

New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine signed that state's civil unions bill into law today. The new legislation, which goes into effect in 60 days on February 19, 2007, gives civilly united couples all the state-regulated rights and responsibilities of marriage except for the title "married."

New Jersey will become the third state with a civil unions law (after Connecticutt and Vermont) and the fifth to have statewide recognition of same-sex couples (VT, CT, Massachusetts and California).

In addition, yesterday Corzine signed into law a gender non-discrimination bill (S. 362) which added "gender identity or expression" to New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination as well as a bill (S. 494) that appropriates $10 million dollars to fund needle exchange programs in six different municipalities to reduce HIV/AIDS transmission through injection drug use.

New Jersey Approves Marriage Apartheid

Ok, so maybe the title of the post is a bit provocative. What New Jersey through its elected state representatives has done today is enact a civil unions statute in an attempt to give same-sex (civilly united) couples in that state equal state recognition, rights and responsibilities that opposite-sex (married) couples now enjoy in response to a landmark ruling by the New Jersey State Supreme Court issued on October 25. The vote Thursday was 23-12 in the State Senate and 56-19 in the State Assembly. Governor Jon S. Corzine has said he will sign the bill into law. New Jersey became the third state after Vermont (2000) and Connecticut (2005) to enact a civil unions statute legislatively. California's comprehensive domestic partnership statute is pretty close, but is not called a civil union. As I (and many others) have pointed out, civil unions are not the same thing as marriage. Separate is NOT equal.

Interestingly (feeling guilty?) the New Jersey legislature also passed a bill to add "gender identity of expression" to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.