New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on
Friday argued that a gay marriage bill he recently vetoed was not
about rights.
Christie, a supporter of the state's
civil unions law, vetoed the bill as promised the day after lawmakers
approved it.
The governor has also called for a
public vote on the issue. (A
recent poll found that 57 percent of respondents favor marriage
equality and 67 percent approve of Christie's proposal to let voters
decide the issue at the ballot box.)
When a 15-year-old female student at
Fort Lee high school asked Christie about his veto during a town hall
broadcast on MSNBC, he argued that the rights of gay and lesbian
couples are “aggressively” protected in his state.
“Recently you passed an anti-bullying
law, which I really am appreciative for, because bullying should not
be allowed in the state of New Jersey, so I really thank you for
that. However, one of the main reasons why kids even do get bullied
in school is whether or not they're homosexual. And recently there
has been a bill to allow gay rights in the state of New Jersey. Can
you tell me what was your decision to veto the bill?”
“I did veto a bill on gay marriage,
not on gay rights,” Christie answered. “And gay rights are
protected and protected aggressively in New Jersey. But listen, this
is something I feel strongly about. I think marriage is between one
man and one woman, but I also know that people have very different
opinions about that in our state. So what I've said to folks after
vetoing the bill, let's put it on the ballot. If a majority of
people in New Jersey want to have same-sex marriage, then vote for it
and I'll be governed by it. But I don't think that's a decision that
should be made by 121 people in Trenton alone. It's a major change
in the way we've governed our society.” (The video is embedded in
the right panel of this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)