TRENTON — New Jersey lawmakers, besieged by raucous lobbying and solemn appeals to history and scripture, prepared Monday to cast votes on a bill that would make the state the sixth in the nation to legally recognize same-sex marriage.
Hundreds of supporters and opponents of the bill converged on the State House for the long-awaited debate on the measure, filling a committee room, spilling into the hallway and seated in overflow rooms to watch and listen to broadcasts of the hearing.
In a sign of the emotion behind the issue, the bill’s sponsor, Senator Loretta Weinberg, appeared to choke up as she introduced the measure to the Judiciary Committee and spoke about her 40-year marriage to her late husband, Irwin. Senator Weinberg said she considered it unconscionable and unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the same right to live as legally recognized spouses.
“This is about ensuring the right of every citizen to live with the person you love in peace and equality,” said Senator Weinberg, a Democrat from Bergen County.
Julian Bond, chairman of the N.A.A.C.P., testified in support of the proposal, casting it as a moral issue as momentous as the battles for racial equality and women’s rights.
“Gay rights are civil rights,” Mr. Bond said, invoking the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the suffragette movement and the abolition of slavery during his testimony.
But opponents of the bill said same-sex marriage was an affront to religious tradition and natural law. Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, said that although Roman Catholic teaching opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation, church leaders believe that New Jersey’s current civil unions law adequately protects the rights of gays without endangering an institution that many religions hold sacred.
“Marriage is a unique natural institution, and it is always between one man and one woman,” he said.
With the New York State Senate having rejected a gay marriage bill last week, the front line in the national battle over same-sex marriage has shifted to New Jersey. And the tenuous Senate support for the proposal in New Jersey, one of the most liberal states in the nation, has cheered many conservatives.
Considered a fait accompli by many legislators as recently as October, the bill’s fate has been in jeopardy since Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat who supports gay marriage, was defeated in November. That loss rattled some Democratic legislators, who began to worry about alienating religious and social conservatives by supporting a controversial social measure at a time of economic distress.
Supporters of same-sex marriage face a deadline of Jan. 19, when Governor Corzine, who pledged to sign a same-sex marriage bill, will be succeeded by Governor-elect Christopher J. Christie, who opposes the measure.
New Jersey law currently permits civil unions, but many gay rights advocates say the law is a failure because it does not provide the same protections as a civil marriage, like such as the right to visit a partner in the hospital or have coverage on a family insurance policy.
Marsha Shapiro and Louise Walpin, a gay couple who have been together for 20 years, told the Judiciary Committee that despite their civil union, they have faced job discrimination and have been repeatedly denied insurance benefits. The insurance coverage has been a particularly distressing issue because they have four children, two of whom have disabilities and require expensive medical treatment.
“The state of New Jersey has promised us the right to equal legal protection,” said Ms. Walpin, 58. “Our family has suffered enough. Please support us and give us the legal protection that we need. “
Lawmakers said they expected the debate to last at least six hours. Senator Paul A. Sarlo, the committee chairman said he believed the measure had enough votes to clear the 13-member panel. If it does, it will be put up for a vote Thursday by the full Senate, where advocates from both sides of the debate say it will face an uphill battle to reach the 21-vote tally it would need to pass.
The Assembly has not voted on the measure, but supporters there believe it has a comfortable margin. Opponents of the measure say that the issue is so personal that it should be put before the voters in a referendum. John Tomicki, a leader of the Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage, said hundreds of volunteers were in Trenton to lobby against the bill and had gathered more than 300,000 signatures on petitions urging the legislature to reject it.
“This is too important not to let the voters have their voices be heard," Mr. Tomicki testified.
Senator Anthony Cardinale, a Republican from Bergen County, warned voters would be incensed if Mr. Corzine and Democrats enact a law regarding a sensitive issue like same-sex marriage after the governor had been rejected in his re-election bid.
“That would be outrageous,” said Senator Cardinale, who opposes the bill.
Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Iowa.