State Senate Hearing on N.J. Marriage Bill Nears

The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee will take up a marriage equality bill during a Tuesday morning hearing at the statehouse in Trenton.

The committee is expected to vote on the legislation at the end of the hearing. Testimony will be heard from witnesses both for and against same-sex marriage.

Gov. Chris Christie, who had said as a gubernatorial candidate that he would veto a marriage equality bill, has been noncommittal on doing so as of late. "The fact is that this is a huge societal change that they're talking about here, and I think that we need to do this in a very deliberate and thoughtful way and get the most input from the public we can before we overturn hundreds of years of societal legal and religious tradition," Christie said in a recent radio interview.

A Quinnipiac poll released last week found majority support for marriage equality in the state: 52% of respondents said they favored marriage rights for same-sex couples in the state, with 42% opposed.

Via Garden State Equality:

Few events in advocacy are as important or exciting: This Tuesday, January 24 at 11:00 am in Committee Room 4 at the State House, 125 West State Street in Trenton, the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on S.1, the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act. The Committee will vote on the bill at the end of hearing. Please join us to watch history.

Meet us as early as possible -- we suggest 9:00 am or earlier -- on Tuesday morning at the State House. The hearing room will be jammed, so arriving early is a must to get seats. We will be there at the crack of dawn. You can park at the Trenton Marriott, 1 West Lafayette Street, only three blocks from the State House, and then walk to the State House. Please wear your EQUALITY The American Dream t-shirt from two years ago if you have one.

Information on the Tuesday hearing can be found here.