Face Off Over Marriage in Jersey

Recently, Evan Wolfson of the pro-gay Freedom to Marry debated Brian Brown of the anti-marriage equality group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) over a referendum that’s currently being considered by our neighbors in the Garden State. Gov. Chris Christie says he wants voters to decide the fate of same-sex marriage, but LGBT rights supporters like Wolfson say that allowing a civil rights issue to be decided by voters harks back to the early 1900s when voters were asked to decide on whether women should be allowed to vote. The men, he says, voted against it. And it would only be until years later that a federal decision would be made in favor of women’s voting rights. It’s the same, he says, for marriage.

But the difference today could be in the polls. A majority of voters in New Jersey – more than half – say they support same-sex marriage. But Brown argues that allowing gay people to marry would destroy the sanctity of it – and would somehow corrupt the definition of family.

“Marriage is not defined by who’s denied it,” challenges Wolfson, in a debate that gets to the core of the issue and why it could be up to Christie to make the final decision after all.

Check it out: