A gay man running for a seat in the U.S. Senate representing New Jersey is calling Governor Chris Christie‘s impending veto of the marriage equality bills passed this week, and his positions on civil rights in general, “shameful and cowardly.”
“As a student of history, whatever explanation can presently be mustered for a gubernatorial veto, inevitably all states will be united in marriage equity, and among the ashes of inequality Chris Christie’s civil rights stance will be appropriately eulogized as shameful and cowardly,” Jonathan Bannon Maher said in a statement Thursday.
Maher, an Independent, is challenging sitting Democrat Bob Menendez. Menendez is the junior United States Senator from New Jersey, and was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Jon Corzine, who resigned in 2006 upon being elected Governor of New Jersey. Menendez was elected in the fall of 2006 for a six-year term.
In a separate interview, Maher told The New Civil Rights Movement last year he is running because “we are dramatically short on intellectual resources in the United States Senate.”
Maher has also published two books, including, The Destiny of Humanity.
No word yet on a response from Christie.