New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Tuesday said he would stand by his vow to veto legislation that would allow same sex couples to marry.

On Monday, the New Jersey Senate passed the bill by a 24 to 16 vote.

“Yesterday was a good bunch of theater, but that’s all it was,” Christie said at a press conference. “It was theater.”

Christie has pledged to veto the bill. Instead, he has called for the New Jersey legislature to draft a constitutional amendment and put the issue to a statewide vote.

ADVERTISEMENT

But Democrats have said it is wrong to put a civil right issue on the ballot and vowed to pass the bill despite the governor’s veto threat.

“If they pass it on Thursday and send it to my desk, believe me I will take very swift action on the bill and then we can move on to the things the people of New Jersey say are most important to them, which is creating jobs, lowering taxes and continuing the New Jersey comeback and not the last month that we spent, which really is an act of theater on their part because they know it’s not going to happen,” Christie said.

Overriding the governor’s veto would require two-thirds majority vote in both the Assembly and the Senate.

Watch video, clipped by Think Progress, below: