GOP Gov.Christie Appeals Gay Marriage Order in New Jersey
A state judge ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry in New Jersey, a decision that reverberated across the state and sets up a final battle between gay rights advocates and Gov. Chris Christie at the state Supreme Court.
Saying same-sex couples are being denied equal rights "every day," Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ordered the state to begin allowing same-sex marriages Oct. 21. Christie, however, vowed to appeal the ruling and could ask that the date be delayed while the court proceedings continue.
Jacobson’s decision marks the first time a New Jersey judge has said gay couples have the right to marry.
For now, it makes New Jersey the first state to legalize gay marriage after June’s landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
"Same-sex couples must be allowed to marry in order to obtain equal protection of the law under the New Jersey constitution," the judge wrote, and their right to marry "should not be delayed until some undeterminable future time."
In a sweeping opinion, Jacobson granted an emergency request by six gay couples and their children, saying the state’s system of civil unions for same-sex couples denies them more than 1,000 federal tax benefits and legal protections.
Christie, a Republican who opposes gay marriage, vowed to appeal the ruling Friday all the way to the state Supreme Court.
"Governor Christie has always maintained that he would abide by the will of the voters on the issue of marriage equality and called for it to be on the ballot this Election Day," said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak. "Since the Legislature refused to allow the people to decide expeditiously, we will let the Supreme Court make this constitutional determination.”
Although they were girding for an appeal by Christie, gay couples and their advocates took a moment to celebrate what they called a historic day that brings New Jersey in line with nearby states including Connecticut, Maryland and New York.
"We are on cloud nine," said Marsha Shapiro, one of the plaintiffs, as she and her partner of 21 years headed to a rally in Montclair. "We’re not really driving. We’re flying."
"It means so much to my clients and their couples and their children and their families throughout the state," said Hayley Gorenberg, an attorney for the six families and Lambda Legal. "They’ve fought long and hard to be able to protect the people they love most without discrimination.”
Lawrence Lustberg, another attorney for the families and the group Garden State Equality, said: "New Jersey has always been on the forefront of protecting constitutional rights.
"This decision keeps us in that tradition.”
The decision also rippled through the two big political campaigns this year for governor and U.S. Senate. Democratic Senate candidate Cory Booker praised the ruling, while Republican opponent Steve Lonegan hammered Jacobson for twisting the Constitution "like a piece of wax."
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, meanwhile, called the day’s events "a stark reminder that Governor Christie stands on the wrong side of history."
"At every turn, he has prevented our gay brothers and sisters from enjoying the same rights as other New Jerseyans," Buono said in a statement. "The courts have spoken and the people have spoken. It is time for Chris Christie to stop blocking equal rights for all New Jerseyans.”
But John Tomicki, president of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage, said the institution of marriage should be kept to "one man and one woman" and that the ruling puts "freedom of religion and freedom of conscience at great risk."
"If a member of a religious denomination says that within their faith beliefs, they do not support same-gender marriage, will it be an act of discrimination if they refuse to officiate at such marriage?" Tomicki said. "Those are cases that are going on now across the country."
Christie’s administration had argued that the matter was out of New Jersey’s hands since the only pressing questions were over federal, not state, benefits.
Christie’s administration had argued that the matter was out of New Jersey’s hands since the only pressing questions were over federal, not state, benefits.
Garden State Equality and Lambda Legal countered that New Jersey was left behind with "second-class" civil unions despite a 2006 ruling by the state Supreme Court that granted gay couples all the rights and benefits as straight couples.
Jacobson agreed, noting, "Civil union partners who are federal employees living in New Jersey are ineligible for marital rights with regard to the federal pension system, all civil union partners who are employees working for businesses to which the Family and Medical Leave Act applies may not rely on its statutory protections for spouses, and civil union couples may not access the federal tax benefits that married couples enjoy.”
Troy Stevenson, executive director of Garden State Equality, said he and other groups would also continue pushing to override Christie’s gay marriage veto in the Legislature. Lawmakers have until Jan. 14 to muster another dozen or so votes for an override. "We’ve been saying for months that through litigation or legislation, we will have marriage equality in the state of New Jersey by January of 2014, and we have no intention of stopping until we guarantee that victory," Stevenson said.
Jacobson was asked by six gay couples and their children to square the U.S. Supreme Court ruling with New Jersey’s own legal precedents.
In 2006, the state Supreme Court ruled that gay couples must receive all the rights and benefits that heterosexual couples got, although the justices left it to the state Legislature to decide whether to call it marriage or something else. Lawmakers set up civil unions.
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Star-Ledger staff writer MaryAnn Spoto contributed to this report.
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