Same-sex marriage advocates urge N.J. lawmakers to revive vetoed bill

The Christie administration is seeking an emergency appeal of a state judge’s refusal to delay her order that New Jersey grant marriage licenses for same-sex couples beginning Oct. 21.That worries Troy Stevenson, executive director of Garden State Equality, who said the appeals process will delay same-sex weddings.

“This could be taken away at any time until there’s an absolute definitive decision by the court, and that could be a year and a half,” he said Thursday. “They only way to guarantee that, before that happens, is to enact the law we passed in 2012 by having two-thirds of the Legislature vote on this bill.”

Gov. Chris Christie vetoed that bill last year, and it’s not clear if there would be enough votes in the Assembly for that effort to succeed.

The New Jersey United For Marriage campaign manager Mike Premo agreed.

“People of New Jersey want this done. They want it done quickly. They don’t want to have to wait a year, a year-and-a-half, for the court to decide,” he said. “The quickest way to get this done is through the Legislature, and that’s why we’re ultimately confident we’ll be victorious.”

In the meantime, Stevenson said, some officials who perform civil marriage ceremonies may be reluctant to have same-sex weddings until the court appeals are decided.

A Quinnipiac University poll released this week found that there is majority support for same-sex marriage in New Jersey.