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Marriage Equality Coming to New Jersey!

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Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson has ruled today in Garden State Equality v. Dow that same sex couples must be allowed to marry in NJ!  Marriage equality currently set to start on October 21st.  

In arguments before Jacobson in August, Lambda Legal’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, said that not allowing same-sex couples to marry will have “devastating” consequences because the federal government denies a wide array of benefits to couples who are not married. He said the question is a matter of equal protection under the law and has moral overtones.

Jacobson agreed, ruling that the ineligibility of same-sex couples for federal benefits hurts them in “a wide range of contexts,” such as pension benefits, family leave protections and tax benefits.

“If the trend of federal agencies deeming civil union partners ineligible for benefits continues, plaintiffs will suffer even more, while their opposite-sex New Jersey counterparts continue to receive federal marital benefits for no reason other than the label placed upon their relationship by the state,” the judge wrote. Such unequal treatment “requires that New Jersey extend civil marriage to same-sex couples to satisfy the equal protection guarantees of the New Jersey Constitution.”

So, a few thoughts on this.  For one, I’m really excited that my state is finally going to join the ranks of other marriage equality states.

What will be interesting to see is whether this impacts the Governor’s race at all.  Christie (for some unknown reason) does hold support with a number of democrats and independents, but is almost certain to come out against this ruling.  That may wake some people up and hopefully get them to support Barbara Buono, the actual Democratic candidate running against Christie in November.

The other big question is whether the Legislature will attempt to override Christie’s veto of marriage equality – there had been a push to do so, and my understanding is they were close to locking down the votes for it.  Whether this will give them extra incentive to push for the override, or whether they’ll let the courts fight it out remains to be seen at this point.

Whatever happens, the idea the “separate but equal” civil unions are an acceptable replacement for marriage is being torn down, and that is always cause for celebration.

Update:  According to an ABC News Article, a Christie spokesman says he plans to appeal.


Categories: General.

/ 8 Comments

8 comments

  1. JanF

    Republican Chris Christie is ahead by 60 points over the Democrat. In a blue state like New Jersey, a lot of those people who are voting for Gov. “Hates Unions, Hates Teachers, Hates Women, Hates Gays” are Democrats.

    This is NOT like voting for Christine Todd Whitman … Chris Christie is Ted Cruz without the cowboy boots. There will be no “oh gosh … who could have known he was a neanderthal????” like there was in 2009.

  2. JanF

    Probably not great timing for him but a guy ahead by 60 realizes he is coated in teflon and doesn’t give a rats ass what people think.

    (p.s. Can you tell that Christie’s reelection irritates me?)

  3. JanF

    The Christie administration argued that it’s the federal government’s patchwork of policies that is keeping lesbian and gay couples in New Jersey from having the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples.

    Pardon me while I channel bubbanomics: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    No, Governor, it is the patchwork of anti-gay legislation passed in the various states, some as amendments to the constitutions, enshrining bigotry, that has resulted in the mismatch of the federal laws to state laws.

    A branch of the federal government ruled that DOMA is not constitutional and now another branch of the federal government is working within the law to accommodate that ruling. The ruling did not say that it could override any state law and implement one broad rule to cover all the places where state and federal laws overlap, such as the preparation of income taxes. In fact, it should be a big red flag that pretty much forever, states simply used the federal return as the basis for their own tax returns. Now they can’t, because the states have different rules for recognizing marriage. (p.s. This is why there used to be a legal concept about recognizing contracts made in other states. That concept was set on its head when the religious right decided it should define what marriage is and isn’t. )

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