Sussex County’s State Legislators have failed the LGBTQI+ community again. Earlier this week, a bill to write marriage equality into New Jersey law was voted on in the Senate and Assembly. Thanks to the leadership of other legislators left, right and center, this measure passed. Unfortunately for residents of New Jersey’s 24th District, Senator Oroho and Assemblyman Space voted no, while Assemblyman Wirths abstained on this bipartisan piece of legislation. Why?

Historically, the Republican Party has not been a friend to our community. In a 2012 New Jersey Herald article Senator Oroho is quoted as saying “I support traditional marriage…I understand (gay) people can have very loving relationships and whatnot. That’s not my issue.” Oroho then said that “a major societal change” — his characterization of allowing gay marriage — should be up to all voters, not elected officials. “If it goes on the ballot, and people voted differently (than me), then so be it,”. Claiming that equal marriage was not for the courts or elected officials to decide is messaging that republicans in the twenty-fourth district used for years. Former Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose wrote an opinion piece about gay marriage in 2009, claiming decisions made in the courts or statehouse about same-sex marriage were authoritarian, and undemocratic. While running for his second assembly term in 2015, Assemblyman Space proudly stated in a May debate that he had already signed on in support of legislation that would add language to the state Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The United States Supreme Court would disagree with him just a month later.

Even for the ultra-conservative representatives of Sussex County, opposing the basic right to marry doesn’t make sense, and it hasn’t for a long time. The same New Jersey Herald article quoting Senator Oroho’s opposition to equal marriage detailed a poll from Sussex County Community College and the New Jersey Herald which showed that the majority of Sussex County residents supported same-sex marriage. Fifty-eight percent of people, almost a decade ago, supported gay marriage in Sussex County. Given the growing support across the county for the LGBTQI+ community, displayed through Pride rallies, LGBTQI+ focused social events, and towns declaring June as pride month the past few years, it is clear that that fifty-eight percent has grown, and support of gay marriage at the very minimum is clearly supported by Sussex County residents and voters.

Voting no, or abstaining on marriage equality in 2021 only shows that our officials do not respect the will of the people, and cannot accept the “major societal change” that love is love. Sussex County residents-whether they or LGBTQ+ or not, deserve better.

The Sussex County LGBTQ Dems