Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty
Counsel, has accused New Jersey Governor Chris Christie of
“dereliction of duty” for withdrawing an appeal to a court's
decision legalizing gay marriage in New Jersey.
“For Governor Chris Christie just to
allow a lower court to ultimately decide this for the people is a
dereliction of duty,” Staver said on WND
Radio. “We're talking about the redefinition of marriage.
We're talking about a policy that essentially says boys don't need
fathers, that girls don't need mothers, that two people of the same
sex are just as good as mom and dad who are male and female.”
“This has long-term significant
effects on the family, on children and when we destabilize the very
structure of the family, we impact the structure and stability of
government,” he added.
Christie dropped the appeal after the
New Jersey Supreme Court refused to delay a lower court's decision
ordering the state to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay and
lesbian couples, a clear signal that it did not believe that the
administration would prevail in its claim.
Staver warned against additional
similar rulings, saying that they could ultimately “delegitimize
their entire structure.”
“Once people lose confidence in the
court system, we ultimately have a real problem within the
judiciary,” he said. “I think that's potentially where we may be
going if this continues to go down the same path.”
(Related: Chris
Christie, Brian Brown unhappy with start of New Jersey gay marriage.)