Chris Christie presidential campaign, 2016/Gay rights

	; ; Former presidential candidate; Chris Christie
	Political offices: ; Governor of New Jersey; (2010-2018); U.S. Attorney for New Jersey; (2002-2008)
	Christie on the issues:
	Taxes • Banking policy • Government regulations • International trade • Budgets • Agricultural subsidies • Federal assistance programs • Foreign affairs • Federalism • Natural resources • Healthcare • Immigration • Education • Abortion • Gay rights
	Republican candidate:
	Donald Trump
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This page was current as of the 2016 election.

When asked about a California law that allows transgender children to use the bathroom of their choice, Chris Christie said on December 21, 2015, “Life is confusing enough right now for our children. Think about those kids in Los Angeles who last week had their entire district closed because of a threat. Think about what they felt like the next day when they went back to school. Did they feel completely comfortable, did they feel like they were safe? … The fact though is that we want our kids not to have to decide which bathroom they get to go in. And not to be subject to peer pressure about which one to go in. … Why do we do this to our children? It doesn't make any sense. So I don't know. I'm the common sense guy from New Jersey, you know, I don't think life needs to be this complicated. I think it needs to be a lot more straightforward.”^[1]

After being presented with his own quote (“she [Kim Davis] is sworn to uphold the law") during the September 2015 GOP debate, Christie answered: “She is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that -- that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed.” Kim Davis was a Kentucky clerk who refused to give out same-sex marriage licenses and was subsequently jailed.^[2]

On August 10, 2015, Christie vetoed a bill that would have enabled transgender people to modify their birth certificate if they could provide proof from a medical professional that they were undergoing gender transition. Christie said, “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.”^[3]

On June 26, 2015, Chris Christie stated he approved of Chief Justice John Roberts' dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges and believed that marriage equality "is something that shouldn't be decided by a group of lawyers, but should be decided by the people." Christie added, "That being said, those five lawyers get to impose it under our system and so our job is going to be to support the law of the land. And that under the Supreme Court's ruling is now the law of the land, but I don’t agree with the way it's been done. But I take an oath and the same way I've supported and enforced the law here in New Jersey since our Supreme Court made their 7-0 decision on same-sex marriage and I've supported and endorsed that law, I would have to do the same across the country. But I want to be clear, I don’t agree with the way it was done. But it's been done and those of us who take an oath have a responsibility to abide by that oath."^[4]^[5]

In 2012, Chris Christie expressed his support for civil unions. Although he was opposed to legalizing gay marriage, he said that he believed same-sex couples in a civil union deserved to receive the same benefits as married couples and to be protected from discrimination.^[6]

In 2012, Christie vetoed a bill passed in the New Jersey legislature that would have legalized same-sex marriage. A New Jersey trial court ruled in 2013 that the state had to allow same-sex marriage, after which Christie appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The court made it clear that Christie's appeal had little chance of success, and in October 2013, Christie withdrew the appeal and gay marriage became legal in New Jersey. Christie's spokesman stated, "Although the governor strongly disagrees with the court substituting its judgment for the constitutional process of the elected branches or a vote of the people, the court has now spoken clearly as to their view of the New Jersey Constitution and, therefore, same-sex marriage is the law."^[7]

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