A woman on Thursday told the New Jersey
Assembly Committee considering a gay marriage bill that there are a
greater number of “ex-gays” than gays.
The committee
voted in favor of advancing the measure to the full House after
hearing more than 6 hours of emotional testimony from dozens of
supporters and opponents of marriage equality.
The panel's two Republicans, Michael
Patrick Carroll and freshman Holly Schepisi, voted against the bill.
Testifying against the bill, the Rev.
Jean Ann DiBenedetto of Go Ye Ministries suggested that gay people
were emotionally unstable.
“If we would just take the time to
study the lifestyle, we would find out that there is an emotional
issue going on inside a person,” she told lawmakers.
“Now I know they are not going to
like what I have to say, but I'm going to speak fact here,” she
added.
Chairman Peter J. Barnes, who voted for
the bill, called hecklers out of order when DiBenedetto continued:
“The more single parent homes we have the more of this lifestyle
we're going to see.”
“Every witness will be given the
respect that they deserve,” Barnes admonished.
“Do we change the laws and the laws
of God to make a wrong a right? In every major decision in life we
study all sides, we weigh out the pros and cons. If a major decision
is made based on emotion, it usually comes back to bite us. And
that's why we have more 'ex-gays' than practicing gays, and that is a
fact,” she added as several in the audience laughed.
(Related: Girl
calls on New Jersey lawmakers to let her gay dads marry.)