Class act

NJ Senator Jim Beach shared his yes vote on marriage equality with one of his harshest critics Monday.

"I just thought it was the right thing to do," the Camden County Democrat says, referring to his decision to support the bill -- and to invite liberal activist Jay Lassiter to sit beside him as the roll was called in the Senate. The measure was approved 24-16; the state Assembly is set to take up the matter Thursday.

Beach and several other key Democrats abstained when marriage equality last came before the Senate two years ago.

"It felt personal when he abstained," Lassiter says. "And it felt personal when he voted for us."

Beach says he has come to reconcile his Catholic uprbringing with a conviction that marriage for gays and lesbians is a civil right.

"There aren't too many times when you make a mistake and then have a chance to correct it," he says.

He invited Lassiter to witness his yea vote "because I knew how important it was to Jay," Beach adds.

"A lot of people are evolving on this issue," Lassiter says. "Watching Senator Beach do so in such a thoughtful way really warmed my cynical old heart."

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About Metro Mashup

Metro columnist Karen Heller has been an Inquirer staff writer since 1986. She has won national, state and local awards for feature writing, investigative reporting and criticism, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Karen here; read her columns here.

An award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Annette John-Hall’s twice weekly metro columns always illuminate. Her topics and storytelling challenge readers to reflect on their own perceptions, to turn off the auto response and forge a different kind of conversation. She has been nominated twice by the Inquirer for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Annette here; read her columns here.

Kevin Riordan’s daily newspaper byline debuted in 1972, when he was a child prodigy. He got his first real newspaper job four years later, and joined the Inquirer in 2010. A native of western Massachusetts, he lives in Haddon Heights, NJ. E-mail Kevin here; read his columns here.

Since joining The Inquirer as a staff writer in 1988, Daniel Rubin has reported from 27 countries, but most of them were small. He's a metro columnist and has been the European Correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. For two years he sat at home and wrote Blinq, the paper's first daily blog. Dan began newspaper work in Norfolk and Louisville, Ky., after getting his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University. He has lived in all four commonwealths, most recently in Pennsylvania. He teaches urban journalism at the University of Pennsylvania. E-mail Daniel here; read his columns here.

Monica Yant Kinney joined the Inquirer as a suburban reporter in 1996, moved to the City Hall Bureau two years later and was named a metro columnist in 2001 at the age of 30. As a columnist, Kinney speaks to, and for, the curious and infuriated masses, writing often about gun violence, casinos, politics, pop culture and parenting. She logs so many miles reporting in the city, suburbs and South Jersey, she finally bought a Prius. E-mail Monica here; read her columns here.

Visit Blinq 1.0 here.

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