NJ: Youth Apathy A Positive for Gay Marriage?

Two weeks ago Thursday, the New Jersey State Senate voted down a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in the state. I was there, in the statehouse, and could only shrug in disappointment as the expected outcome (20-14 against) popped up on the television screen in the overflow room, where a few hundred citizens were gathered. Fifteen minutes later I was in my car heading home. It had been a long day and I was tired. My friends and I had been in Trenton since nine (the vote took place around five in the afternoon) trying to stalk down and sway the mind of our supposedly on-the-fence state senator. Around noon I caught up to him as he exited his office through the “secret” back door and told him a heartbreaking half-truth about a gay friend of mine who wanted to get married but couldn’t. He was like an older brother to me, and I wanted to be the best man at his wedding, I told the senator. “Thank you for sharing that story,” he said. The truth is, that friend isn’t from New Jersey, I have no idea if he wants to marry his boyfriend, and I certainly won’t be his best man if he does get married. I lied because we had been instructed upon arrival at the statehouse to think of why we were there fighting for marriage equality—this “why” (preferably a personal anecdote) was what we were supposed to relate to the senator—and I had been stumped. Or rather, personal motivations were virtually non-existent: I’m not gay, I won’t be getting married anytime soon, and there is nobody close to me who would have been directly affected by the bill. Most of my friends who made the trip with me shared similar feelings. So why, then, were we there? Full Story from the Columbia Spectator

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