By Susan C. Moeller / Senior Reporter

TRENTON (Dec. 8, 2009, 12:40 p.m.) — After a marathon session that stretched from the early afternoon hours until just after 10 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 7, the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly approved a controversial same-sex marriage bill that extends the definition of marriage in New Jersey to include gay and lesbian couples.

The Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act will be considered by the full Senate on Dec. 10. If approved there, the Assembly has time to act on the bill before Gov. Jon S. Corzine leaves office. Corzine has promised to support the legislation; Governor-elect Chris Christie has not.

“In this country, we do not afford some people full civil rights and some people partial civil rights,” said Sen. Loretta Weinberg, one of the bill’s sponsors.

“The evidence is clear: Civil unions have not worked,” she continued. “Same sex couples are facing patterns of discrimination.”

In the end, after listening to passionate statements from people on both sides of the issue, seven senators agreed with Weinberg, giving them a victory over six others who remained opposed to legalizing gay marriage.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo, from Wood-Ridge, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, voted no. Instead of redefining marriage, the Legislature should fix problems with the current civil union law, Sarlo indicated.

“I am a practicing Roman Catholic,” Sarlo said. “My faith and my family upbringing teach that a marriage is a holy sacrament between a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation.”

Noting that his faith also teaches love and equality, Sarlo affirmed his support for New Jersey’s civil union law. “If there are loopholes and if it’s not working, well then we should fix it,” he said.

During the course of the hearing, Republican Sen. Bill Baroni won acceptance of an amendment to the bill that extends religious freedom protections beyond clergy, to church-affiliated societies and institutions, allowing them to opt out of performing gay marriages or allowing their buildings to be used for the same. The exact text of the amendment was not available at press time.

Opponents of the same-sex legislation suggested during the hearing that the voters be asked to decide the controversial issue directly, via a referendum. But, proponents rejected the idea.

Opponents also suggested that the final days of Corzine’s administration are not appropriate for deciding a hotly debated issue like that of gay marriage.

Weinberg, who ran with Corzine in his failed bid for a second term, responded by affirming Corzine’s “legal” and “moral” authority to institute a same-sex marriage law before he leaves office. In so doing, he will remove the second-class status assigned to gay and lesbian partners by the use of the term “civil union,” Weinberg said. She also rejected the idea that gay marriage is a new issue, saying that the discussion has been going on for seven years.

The Legislature instituted a civil union law in 2006, after the state Supreme Court declared that denying same-sex couples the rights afforded to their heterosexual peers was a violation of the equal protection clause of the New Jersey Constitution.

But, according to the findings of the state’s Civil Union Review Commission, the civil union law has not worked, and must be replaced with full civil marriage rights.

Senator Gerald Cardinale, who voted against the Marriage Equality Act, suggested that the Civil Union Review Commission was biased in its results.

The New Jersey Family Policy Council, which advocates for a traditional definition of marriage, has asked for an ethics investigation into the Commission, alleging that it has “operated like an advocacy group supporting same-sex marriage, rather than a legislative commission,” stated NJFPC Executive Director Len Deo.

With just two days before the Senate is scheduled to vote, neither side is claiming victory.

“I think it’s going to be very, very close,” Deo said, adding that he thinks the legislation can be stopped in the Senate.

“We are working very hard,” said Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality. “We are not making predictions.”