Does Not Think Gay Rights Are Human Rights
On the campaign trail today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stopped at a local diner and got into a debate with a voter who supports same-sex marriage. It couldn’t have come as a shock — a new poll (PDF) finds 62 percent of New Jersey voters do. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time. With only 30 percent opposing marriage equality, Christie is debating his Democratic opponent — who does support same-sex marriage — tonight.
Bert Buono, the straight woman who is opposed to Christie’s view on marriage, was eating with a long-time friend from high school at the Edison Diner when the New Jersey governor appeared.
“She immediately asked him why he opposed gay marraige and vetoed a bill that would have legalized it. He said that he wants voters to decide the issue on the ballot,” Matt Katz at the Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
“This is different from gun control and taxes — this is a human rights issue,” Bueno said.
“Says you,” Christie said.
“It is,” she retorted.
“If you’re waiting to find a candidate you’re going to agree with every time, go home and look at the mirror,” Christie said. Or, “if that’s your most important issue, then you can vote for the other person.”
She asked if he would sit down with a group of gays and lesbians to allow himself to be convinced of the other side.
Christie demurred. “I have relatives who are gay. I have friends who are gay. I can sit down and have a conversation, but I don’t think it’s going to change my view,” the governor said.
Katz writes that after the conversation on marriage, he spoke with Buono.
“Would you vote for him, I asked?”
“F*** no,” she said.
It’s nice that Governor Christie has gay friends. So does Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Blue Jersey notes that the debate at 7:00 PM ET tonight “will be broadcast live on CBS 2 (NYC) and CBS 3 (Philadelphia) from William Paterson University, Wayne.”
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