BY STAFF REPORTER
THE NEW JERSEY Senate “stood for the truth of marriage as a bulwark of the common good” with its recent vote to defeat a bill that would have legalised same-sex marriage, the chairman of the US bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for the Defence of Marriage has said.
“Preserving marriage between one man and one woman is a matter of justice; indeed it is one of the premier social justice issues of our time,” said Archbishop Joseph of Louisville on Monday. “It does not deny but rather supports basic human rights – especially the rights of children.” By a 20-14 tally last week, the state Senate voted down a bill called the Marriage Equality Act; if the bill had passed and been signed into law, New Jersey would have joined five others states in allowing samesex couples to marry. The others are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
But Archbishop Kurtz noted in his statement that the New York state senate rejected a similar measure by a 38-24 margin in December and in November the voters in Maine overturned a legislative move to re-define marriage to include same-sex couples.
“The recent decisions in Maine, New York and New Jersey are signs of hope and sources of encouragement,” he said.