"It's Inevitable", Says Govenor--gay Marriage

N.J.'s Corzine: Marriage fine in 2009 Mon Sep 10, 6:57 PM ET



SUMMARY: New Jersey's governor says he'd sign a marriage bill if he got one, while gay activists implore California's governor to sign the one on his desk.

New Jersey's governor this weekend vowed to sign a marriage equality bill but said he would not seek one in an election year, while California's governor did get such a bill but kept quiet about it as he exhorted fellow Republicans toward centrism.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine on Sunday called same-sex marriage in his state inevitable, but said it "won't be on my agenda" until after the 2008 presidential election for fear it would be used as a wedge issue by the right wing, New York's Gay City News reported.

"I don't think I'd like to see this debated in a presidential election year," the paper quoted Corzine, a Democrat, as telling members of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association at a gathering in Newark.

"I don't know whether it's three years or five years, but in some time frame in the not-so-distant future, I suspect that New Jersey will embrace the moniker of gay marriage or same-sex marriage," he said.

Corzine asserted he will sign a bill to allow same-sex marriage if the Legislature sends him one.

"I think we can move very quickly here, but I think we ought to do it in a way, by the way, that doesn't cause setbacks everywhere else in the country," Corzine said, "that doesn't make it a tool for people who I believe start unjust wars or try to take away children's health insurance or aren't committed to enforcing hate crimes laws and all kinds of other things."

Meanwhile, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who last week was sent a marriage equality bill by the California Legislature, spoke over the weekend of the necessity of steering his Republican Party away from the right -- but did not mention the marriage bill.

"The California Republican Party should be a right-of-center party that occupies the broad middle of California," Schwarzenegger told his state party convention in Indian Wells.

"That is a lush, green, abandoned political space. It can be ours," he said.

Over the weekend, Equality California mounted a petition drive urging Schwarzenegger to sign the marriage bill before the Oct. 14 deadline. People can also email the governor's office at http://gov.ca.gov/interact or phone 916-445-2841. Schwarzenegger vetoed similar marriage legislation in 2005 and has indicated he will do so again.

The state GOP's percentage of voter registration has been shrinking, and to reverse it the party must tackle issues with broad public appeal, like climate change and building highways, railroads and tunnels, he said. In an apparent reference to abortion and other social issues that often divide the party, he said members must be accepting of those with other views while not abandoning ''who we are.''

He said he wanted the party to be welcoming to independents -- the fastest-growing voter group in California. He said the party should open up its Feb. 5 presidential primary to independent voters.

Schwarzenegger, who is term-limited, was re-elected last year. Corzine is up for re-election in 2009, and told the LGBT journalists that that would be a "perfectly appropriate" time to push the marriage issue in his state.

"We of course will not have anyone dictate when we will push for a discussion about our families being denied their rights, but if that's the way he feels, we should sit down and meet to draw up a timetable," replied Garden State Equality's Steven Goldstein to Gay City News.