Christian Conservatives Cream Christie For Dropping Same-Sex Marriage Challenge

Christian conservatives today creamed New Jersey governor Chris Christie for dropping his state Supreme Court same-sex marriage appeal, which effectively makes the Garden State the fourteenth to officially extend marriage to same-sex couples.

Matt Drudge’s The Drudge Report ran a headline (image, above) that claimed “Christie embraces gay marriage in NJ…” Noah Rothman, a conservative writer for Mediaite, deemed the title “more than just misleading,” and called it “downright false.” The Drudge Report is a conservative media outlet that is currently ranked number 93 in the nation and reaches about 23 million people a month, according to Quantcast.

“It’s definitely not a profile in courage,” Brian Brown, president of NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, told Politico.

“You’ve got a court in New Jersey that doesn’t understand that it’s supposed to be interpreting the law, not making it up out of thin air,” he added. “And then the candidate and governor who’s prided himself on he’s gonna do what’s right, he’s gonna tell it like it is, he’s gonna lead, just simply withdraws his appeal because he doesn’t think there’s a likelihood of succeeding? There’s no doubt it’s going to effect him [politically in a 2016 primary].”

And on NOM’s front page, Brown continued his attack on Christie, saying “we are extremely disappointed in Governor Chris Christie for withdrawing the state’s appeal of the underlying decision, effectively throwing in the towel on marriage. The mark of a leader is to walk a principled walk no matter the difficulty of the path. Chris Christie has failed the test, abandoning both voters and the core institution of society – marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

“It’s a sad day for the voters of New Jersey,” said Brown. “An activist judiciary has once again imposed its views and ignored the rights of voters. We will continue to fight for the right of New Jersey voters to determine the definition of marriage. Regrettably, Governor Christie’s decision to surrender on marriage reveals him to be a man who lacks the courage of his supposed convictions. As far as we are concerned, it’s a disqualifying failure. His surrender on marriage effectively surrenders any chance he might have had to secure the GOP nomination for president.”

Certified anti-gay hate group Family Research Council also creamed Christie.

“Family Research Council is disappointed by Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to withdraw the state’s appeal of a lower court order redefining marriage,” FRC senior fellow Peter Sprigg reportedly told The Daily Caller. “The fact that the Supreme Court refused to stay the lower court’s order is no excuse for failing to litigate this important issue to a final conclusion on the merits.”

Sprigg of the Family Research Council said the episode indicates that Christie is an “unreliable ally for true conservatives.”

“We are glad that Gov. Christie vetoed the legislature’s attempt to redefine marriage, and that he was initially willing to defend the state’s marriage law in court,” he said.

“However, conservatives are looking for leaders who will stay the course and fight for unchanging principles, not throw in the towel when faced with opposition,” Sprigg said. “Combined with his signing of a radical bill to outlaw even voluntary sexual orientation change efforts with minors, today’s action has marked Gov. Christie as an unreliable ally for true conservatives.”

Of course, Sprigg, an ordained Baptist minister, has made clear he would criminalize gay people and outlaw gay behavior if given the chance, so his “disappointment” is unsurprising.