Marriage Equality update: NJ, OH, MN

NEW JERSEY: Dems to try to override veto on gay marriage 

Angela Delli Santi, Associated Press

Trenton, NJ (AP) — Democratic leaders in the New Jersey Legislature have agreed to try to override Republican Gov. Chris Christie's gay marriage veto, and are open for the first time to putting the question to voters in November if the override attempt fails.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora of Trenton, one of two openly gay state lawmakers, said Democratic leaders in the Senate and Assembly agreed to renew the push for marriage equality during a meeting Thursday. The strategy could include putting the question to voters in November with Christie on the ballot. The governor, who is Catholic, opposes same-sex marriage.

The November ballot already will include a question on whether the state should raise its minimum wage and is likely to have Democratic Sen. Barbara Buono, who supports both the minimum wage increase and gay marriage, at the top of the ticket facing Christie.

"This could be a perfect storm to get out the Democratic base," Gusciora said.

Christie, who vetoed the gay marriage bill a year ago, has urged lawmakers to put the question to voters.

"On this issue, I am comfortable with the people of the state of New Jersey making the decision," Christie said Tuesday in Lavallette. "If they want to put it on the ballot, put it on the ballot."

Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat who was opposed to gay marriage in 2010 but has come to regret that decision and now supports it, has previously refused to put the question to voters. He has said same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue that does not belong on the ballot. However, Sweeney and Assembly Democratic Leader Lou Greenwald recognize the difficulty of overriding Christie and have agreed to keep their options open, Gusciora said.

This displeases Troy Stevenson, who recently took over as head of Garden State Equality, the state's largest gay-rights organization. Stevenson, who worked in Maine in 2009 on the losing side of a gay marriage referendum, said the effort to win marriage equality by ballot initiative is divisive, expensive and incredibly rough on families headed by same-sex partners.

"We still believe override is the immediate goal," he said.

The Democratic-led Legislature has never been successful in overriding a Christie veto. They'd need a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and Assembly, which means some Republicans would have to be willing to cross the governor.

The effort will start in the Senate, where Sweeney will need to persuade 27 of 40 senators to support gay marriage. The Assembly would need yes votes from 54 of its 80 members.

Stevenson acknowledges that if the vote were held next week, the override would fail. But he holds out hope that an expected June ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on the Defense of Marriage Act could bring new momentum — and votes — if the court rules as gay activists hope.

Three states approved gay marriage in ballot questions in November, with President Barack Obama at the top of the ticket — Maine, Maryland and Washington.

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OHIO: Booed soldier joins Ohio same-sex marriage effort 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A gay U.S. soldier who was booed during a Republican presidential debate in 2011 has joined the effort to overturn Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage.

Leaders of pro-gay-marriage group FreedomOhio said Friday that Columbus resident Stephen Snyder-Hill will help lead outreach efforts.

Snyder-Hill asked the GOP candidates in 2011 if they would reinstate the ban on openly gay troops. He was booed for the question, which he recorded while deployed in Iraq.

FreedomOhio wants to overturn the 2004 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Supporters started collecting signatures last year to place their own constitutional amendment on the ballot by 2014.

The measure wouldn't require churches and other religious institutions to perform or recognize gay marriages.

The amendment banning gay marriage was supported by 62 percent of Ohio voters at the time.

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MINNESOTA: GOP senator is likely gay marriage backer 
Patrick Condon, Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Republican state senator who supports legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota said Wednesday that he hopes to convince GOP colleagues to join him in abandoning the party's traditional stand on the issue.

Sen. Branden Petersen, a likely co-sponsor of a gay marriage bill to be introduced soon at the Capitol, is the first Republican lawmaker to signal support for allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Petersen said his backing hinges on a few conditions being met, chief among them that religious exemptions that don't want to perform same-sex marriages would be exempt from doing so. That provision has been a common feature of gay marriage legislation in other states.

"I think the time has come," Petersen told The Associated Press, arguing that it's the conservative position to let gays join an institution that's one of society's fundamental building blocks. He said he hoped his support would sway not just his fellow Republicans wavering on the issue, but Minnesotans in general that it's OK to support gay marriage. The Star Tribune first reported Petersen's break from his party on the issue.

Nailing down Republican support is significant for gay marriage activists preparing for what's likely to be a divisive debate later this spring at the Capitol. While Democrats control the House and Senate, some of the party's rural members hail from socially conservative areas where a majority of voters last fall backed the failed constitutional gay marriage ban.

Voters in Petersen's district, in suburbs north of Minneapolis, supported the marriage ban by a narrow majority. In 2011, as a House member, Petersen voted to put the constitutional ban on the ballot; he declined Wednesday to elaborate on that vote, but acknowledged that having a gay father-in-law has influenced his thinking.

"It's an issue where we all travel on our own path," Petersen said. He acknowledged the possibility of political consequences for his decision, but said that was trumped by doing what he believes is the right thing. He also said working on the bill would put him in a position to win compromises from Democratic sponsors on its provisions.

On Wednesday, Republican activist Andy Parrish blasted Petersen in an email fundraising pitch for his political committee, A Stronger Minnesota. The group "holds 'Republicans' like Petersen accountable for straying from traditional Minnesota values," wrote Parrish, who helped run last fall's unsuccessful campaign to pass thegay marriage ban.

Sen. Dan Hall, a social conservative from Burnsville, said he was disappointed in Petersen but doubted any other Republican senators would join him.

"I think same-sex marriage is wrong," Hall said. "It's a lifestyle that is not healthy spiritually or physically. I think any time the government OKs something, it's an endorsement or promotion of it so I think it's unhealthy for us to do that."

Still, even before Peterson revealed his intentions, the push for a 2013 legislative vote to allow gay marriagehad been gaining steam. Gov. Mark Dayton restated his support in his State of the State speech, and Democratic legislative leaders — while not fully embracing the effort — have signaled they won't stand in its way. House Speaker Paul Thissen and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk have said they'd vote yes.

Dayton called Petersen's decision "terrific."

"I admire him for his courage and conviction, and hope others will follow to make it bipartisan legislation," Dayton said.

At 27, Petersen is considerably younger than the average Republican senator — personifying a growing generational split in the Republican Party on the issue. Minnesotans United, the group now pushinggay marriage at the Capitol, had recruited a number of young Republican activists and supporters during its successful effort in 2012 to defeat the constitutional gay marriage ban. On Thursday, the group's director Richard Carlbom sent out a fundraising plea touting Petersen's decision.

House and Senate bills to legalize gay marriage are expected in the next few days, though the debate may not get going until later this spring. The chief sponsors are expected to be two Minneapolis Democrats, Sen. Scott Dibble and Rep. Karen Clark, who are both gay and in long-term relationships.