Let’s Hope This Can Get Overturned

We have it here in Connecticut and seven other states and Washington D.C., let’s hope that New Jersey will be number nine.

Christie vetoes N.J. transgender birth certificate bill
Veto override looks unlikely as Christie demands bill have more safeguards against "fraud, deception and abuse"
Metro Weekly
By John Riley
August 10, 2015

In what comes as a disappointment but not a shock to LGBT advocates, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) again vetoed a comprehensive bill that would have allowed transgender or intersex individuals to obtain new, clean copies of birth certificates reflecting their correct gender identity.

In vetoing the bill he said,

“Last year, I vetoed identical legislation noting that a birth certificate is one of the most important legal documents that a person possesses and that proposed measures to revise the standards for the issuance of amended birth certificates must be accompanied by appropriate safeguards to mitigate security-related risks,” Christie wrote in his veto message. “Birth certificates unlock access to many of our nation and State’s critical and protected benefits such as passports, driver’s licenses, and social services, as well as other important security-dependent allowances. Accordingly, I remain committed to the principle that efforts to significantly alter State law concerning the issuance of vital records that have the potential to create legal uncertainties should be closely scrutinized and sparingly approved.”

HA! What BS “…and protected benefits such as passports, driver’s licenses, and social services…” all of the documents that the governor cited can be changed with just a little from a therapist so why can’t you change your birth certificate the same way?

But there is some hope, the bill had bipartisan support,

While the Assembly and Senate could override Christie’s veto to pass the bill into law, LGBT advocates note that New Jersey Republicans have historically been unwilling to defy a governor of their own party, even in cases where the measure has significant and broad bipartisan support. An override would require 27 votes in the Senate and 54 votes in the Assembly. The birth certificate bill initially passed the Senate 30-6, with four members absent, and the Assembly 51-23, with six members absent.

Here in Connecticut the vote was 32-3 in the Senate and 126-18 in the House, so there was strong support on both sides of the aisle. I think the veto was in part to the governor’s presidential bid, he didn’t want to appear weak on LGBT to the Republican right.

NorthJersey.com reported that,

But some of the bill’s supporters wondered if his veto was prompted more by politics as Christie tries to appeal to the Republican Party’s conservative base in his campaign for the GOP nomination for president. They noted that some Republican legislators had voted for the bill in Trenton – six each in the Assembly and Senate - and said they met twice with the governor’s counsel in an effort to address his concerns.

Let’s hope that enough Republicans will change their vote to over turn the veto, so keep your fingers crossed.