Christie defends his veto of marriage equality:
The trouble is: he's wrong in saying this is not about gay rights, but gay marriage, as if the two were separable. They aren't and cannot be. This issue is about the institution of civil marriage and gay rights. You cannot deal with this issue without acknowledging that it is about both things. That makes it harder – but no one promised that living in a democracy would be easy.
What Christie is doing, I think, is simply not allowing himself to see this from the point of view of a gay person. My view is that you can see this through both lenses and come to the same conclusion: marriage equality is about deepening and expanding the institution of civil marriage and protecting the core rights of a minority. It's a win-win for all.
More and more people see this, as the polls keep showing, and as the actual lived experience of marriage equality in the states where it exists reassure us. People are not wrong to worry about this as a big social change. That kind of skepticism is not the same thing as prejudice. Marriage is a critical social institution. But their worries are misplaced. And if representative government is to mean anything, it should be to decide these issues in a reasoned way and be accountable for the result. A referendum is a cop-out. But it is now what we face; and there's a very decent chance we can win in New Jersey as well as Maryland. So let's keep making the case as clearly, as reasonably and as passionately as we can.
This much we know: as an argument, it's a winner. The longer this debate has gone on, the more support we get.
Earlier thoughts on Christie's actions here.
The Dish 