This afternoon, the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act is expected to easily pass through the New Jersey state House. It passed the state Senate on Monday, 24-16.
Governor Christie has vowed to “take swift action” and veto the bill, calling lawmakers’ pro-gay movements “a good bunch of theater” in a press conference Tuesday. Christie believes the legislature cannot come up with a 27-vote veto-proof majority.
Pressure is intensifying on Christie to reconsider, especially given the momentum gaining on the issue in states like Washington, which just passed a gay-marriage bill. WA Gov. Chris Gregoire sent Christie the following letter, but tells Think Progress she’s received no response.
Click through to see Gov. Gregoire’s letter to Gov. Christie:
And Gregoire’s not the only one entreating Christie to have a change of heart: NYC Council speaker Christine Quinn and True Blood actor Denis O’Hare have both told us they’re unhappy with the Jersey gov. Quinn said he’s “playing games” with marriage equality, while O’Hare simply called him a “fat f**k.”
christopher di spirito
Gov. Fatso has his eye on national office. He will veto the marriage equality bill in order to stand with the haters. Hopefully, the voters of New Jersey will have the good sense to vote him out of office, then, the legislature can start the process of passing a marriage equality bill all over again.
Seamus
Politicians like Gregoire and Obama have had “evolving” opinions on same-sex marriage, mostly for the sake of their own political preservation, which I find to be absurd. There are many within the Democratic Party who are privately just as bigoted as their GOP counterparts, so a politicians support of same-sex marriage is usually for the purpose of political philandering. In the case of Gregoire, she has no right to celebrate. She delayed on the issue for a long time. She has a lot of nerve acting holier than thou about it.
ChrisC
@Friend of Christie: When you throw around phrases like “Half-breed” no one has to answer any of your questions. Racist fuck.
Furthermore, at least President Obama wouldn’t veto Marriage Equality if it passed.
Alexa
@Friend of Christie: for someone who complains about people insulting Christie’s weight, your “president halfbreed” comment is extremely hypocritical. Both are obnoxious and unnecessary.
christopher di spirito
@Friend of Christie: “Half-breed”? Seriously? I think you should tell readers of Queerty what size Klan hat you have in the closet? It’s probably quite small since you’re a racist pinhead.
Cam
I’m assuming that a post was deleted since there are a bunch of responses to a post that isn’t there.
As for Christie, I think he is making an error. The Tea Party and the extream right of the party seem to have sway now, but after looking at the polls, the GOP is heading towards a massive defeat.
Once that happens there will be a realignment and the moderate republicans may gain some authority. Christie would be smart to look to the future and not try to pander to the low I.Q. bigots in the party.
Friend of Christie
@ChrisC:
@christopher di spirito:
Really, I’m a racist? And what does that make you who refer to Christie as Governor Fatso? You guys feel empowered to throw nasty, childish names at any politician you don’t like and defend it by saying “Well he IS fat.” Well, guess what? The president IS bi-racial—that’s a fact. Why the hell is it appropriate to demean a governor repeatedly as fat, obese, blah blah blah, but I point out a FACT about your messiah and suddenly I’M the racist bigot? You guys either never read the shit you write, or you’re so beholden to the liberal mindset that you can’t see past your own self-perceived superiority, and hypocrisy just becomes part of your vocabulary. It’s stunning.
@Alexa: But the fact is, you got my point. Name-calling is the last refuge of the desperate (see anything that christopher di spirito has ever posted about anyone he doesn’t agree with).
Robert in NYC
Either way, Washington State’s recent vote means nothing if more than 120,000 signatures are gathered before the end of the 90 day waiting period and the voters support the referendum and there’s every chance of that happening. So in effect, it will be dead on arrival, ditto NJ. Meanwhile, NOM will chalk another two up to victory and probably gloating already. I hope I’m wrong on Washington, but my gut feeling says otherwise. No time to celebrate just yet. Christie on the other hand can forget about presidential aspirations in the future. He’s going nowhere.
GOD (gay old dude)
@Cam: Not to embarrass you, but I feel compelled to point out a spelling error of yours:
“extream” is correctly spelled “extreme.”
christopher di spirito
@Friend of Christie: You blather, “I point out a FACT about your messiah and suddenly I’M the racist bigot?”
My messiah? Who is my messiah? Are you inferring who I voted for in the primary and the general election? Please, glean your psychic skills and tell us who I voted for in the primary and the general election because I have never stated on this blog who that person is and the FACT of the matter is, you have no idea.
Now, run along and roam the blogosphere looking for opportunities to defend Gov. Fatso.
tjr101
I think Chris Christie would prefer an order of fries with that letter.
Seamus
This pointless argument between Friend of Christie and well, everybody else, would only be more amusing if the ghost of Ronald Reagan appeared to settle the score. Talk about Messiahs!
Ronbo
It’s not bigotry, he has a thyroid condition…THYROID!
Trelin
I think Christie will still veto the bill. Especially if he’s planning a run for president in 2017, or be chosen at the VP with Romney. Allowing same sex marriage will make him look soft for the media. He WILL stand his ground, but fingers-crossed that there are enough votes to overturn his veto.
PS…I can’t stand when people point out misspelled words. It’s petty and pretty pathetic. If you know what the poster is saying, then just go with it. You’re trying to make yourself seem superior, yet you ultimately look like a complete douche.
Friend of Christie
As usual, it seems that Queerty and its readers prefer to live in a gay vacuum which allows for no dissenting opinion. I get it now. Quite the eye-opener. Thanks for enlightening me to your propensity for silencing the voices of those who might disagree with you.
BrianZ
@Friend of Christie: Mmhmm. Whatever, bitch. The fact that you post as a friend of a Republican govenor who is actively standing in the way of marriage equality progress, and then have the balls to make the arguement about what Obabma has or has not done … well sir, I don’t think I would call you racist so much as as I would label you an idiot.
And as for semantics: If you know enough that it’s “as usual” that Queerty readers do not allow for dissent, it should hardly be “quite the eye-opener” to you.
Do better, or do not do.
B
In No. 7 · Friend of Christie wrote, “@ChrisC: @christopher di spirito: Really, I’m a racist? And what does that make you who refer to Christie as Governor Fatso? You guys feel empowered to throw nasty, childish names at any politician you don’t like and defend it by saying “Well he IS fat.” Well, guess what? The president IS bi-racial—that’s a fact.”
Being “bi-racial” may be a fact (of dubious relevance), but it seems (judging from quotes of a deleted comment) that you actually used the term “half-breed” – two separate individuals quoted it. So, my guess is that you (Friend of Christie) are a racist and that “christopher di spirito” (the only person who used “fatso”) was simply rude.
It’s not like Christie’s weight problem has never been mentioned in the mainstream press. I’ll refer you to one article published in the Los Angeles Times:
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/30/news/la-heb-chris-christie-weight-president-20110930
Seamus
Referring to someone as a half-breed is antiquated and usually considered to be insensitive. Referring to someone as a fatso is usually considered to be rude. Friend of Christie and christopher di spirito should both be held responsible for using equally as insensitive language, yet Queerty only removes Christie’s comment. It’s hypocritical in my opinion.
Andy
The Bible says some nasty things about same-sex relationships, but here’s what Yahweh says about Chris Christie choices: “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony” (Proverbs 23:2).
Friend of Christie
In all sincerity, I apologize to those who found my above remarks insensitive or derogatory. I understand that race is a more sensitive issue than is obesity, and I should have taken that into consideration prior to making any comments. Christie’s effectiveness and character are what I admire about the man, but I fully understand why he’s not popular on this site. I had a knee-jerk reaction to the name-calling, and I responded poorly, and I’m genuinely sorry. It won’t happen again.
I’d also like to add that I’m truly not racist, and as predictable as it may sound, my circle of friends includes two black guys, an Asian guy, and a Puerto Rican thrown in to spice things up. I very much embrace diversity, not that that excuses my prior comments made about the president.
delurker
@Friend of Christie: God, you’re a smarmy little fuck. “I’m not racist because I deign to have a few coloreds as my friends.” AKA “Some of my best friends are black!”
LOL.
kendoll
What a fat fuck! Save some food for the rest of the planet asshole.
hudson
@delurker: hey, cut FoC some slack. Rarely do we see any one on here apologize for insensitive remarks. He even admitted his having a circle of diversely ethnic friends was going to sound predictable.
Cheers, D
Kieran
Governor Fatso is right. Let’s move on from this petty, unimportant “civil rights for gay people” nonsense. NJ’s got bigger fish to fry, like how to cut workers pensions and benefits and raise NJ tolls for commuters.
Shannon1981
Quit pandering to bigots Governor Christie! Times are a changin’! The legislature has spoken. Sign the damn bill into law.