US: Chris Christie says equal marriage should not be ‘imposed from the Supreme Court’
Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has said each US State “should have the ability to decide on their own” whether to make same-sex marriage legal.
Christie had stringently opposed same-sex marriage in New Jersey, but abandoned his court challenge in October last year after a ruling from the state’s Supreme Court struck down its same-sex marriage ban.
Speaking this week, he said: “We’ve resolved that issue in New Jersey through the courts.
“We are now moving forward as an administration in terms of enforcing the law as the court has interpreted it and each state should have their opportunity to be able to make that decision through their process.”
However, Christie says same-sex marriage laws should not be decided by the Supreme Court.
“I do not believe that this is something that should be imposed from the United States Supreme Court down to the states,” he said.
New Jersey was the 14th US state to legalise equal marriage.
Last year Christie became the first Republican governor to sign a law banning ‘gay cure’ therapy for minors, saying: “I believe that exposing children to these health risks without clear evidence of benefits that outweigh these serious risks is not appropriate.”
Last week, the Texas Republican Convention actively endorsed gay-to-straight conversion therapy.
