Same Sex Marriages in NJ Starting Monday!




 Same-sex marriages can begin Monday in New Jersey on a provisional basis, the state Supreme Court ruled today. I wonder now what excuse Gov. Christie is going to use to stop it. Is he going to be like the proponents of Pro 8 in California? Let’s just get with the program Christie!!
The court will not make a final ruling on same-sex marriage rights until next year. But in the meantime, it upheld an order by a trial judge allowing civil marriages for gay couples to start Monday.
"The public interest does not favor a stay," the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-0 decision by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner today. "State officials shall therefore permit same-sex couples, who are otherwise eligible, to enter into civil marriage beginning on October 21, 2013."
Although the Supreme Court could change its stance later, for now, the decision is a victory for thousands of gay couples in New Jersey, who will be able to marry in-state for the first time starting next week.

SEE COMPLETE RULING BELOW

And it’s a setback for Gov. Chris Christie, an opponent of same-sex marriage who says only "one man and one woman" should be able to wed.
At a campaign event at a restaurant in Dover, Christie ignored a reporter's request for comment about the ruling.
Michael Drewniak, Christie's spokesman, later issued a brief statement.
"The Supreme Court has made its determination," Drewniak said. "While the Governor firmly believes that this determination should be made by all the people of the State of New Jersey, he has instructed the Department of Health to cooperate with all municipalities in effectuating the order of the Superior Court under the applicable law."
Sen. Barbara Buono, Christie's opponent in the election for gubernatorial election, called on the governor to drop his opposition to gay marriage.
"This governor needs to step aside. He's on the wrong side of history and he's been on the wrong side of history for a while. He just needs to let it go," Buono said.
The court's ruling triggered a flood of statements from gay rights groups and lawmakers. Several municipalities also reported same-sex couples arriving at local clerk's offices to try to apply for licenses to get married Monday.
Garden State Equality, a statewide gay rights group, called on supporters to continue pushing for gay marriage.
“Today the New Jersey Supreme Court has stood on the side of equality and refused to delay the freedom to marry. We have been fighting an uphill battle for the dignity of marriage for years and we are finally within sight of the summit. However, this is not the time to rest, it is the time to recommit, it is the time to pull out all the stops,” said Troy Stevenson, executive director of Garden State Equality.
Ron Carty rushed down to Asbury Park's City Hall right after he heard the state Supreme Court refused to issue a stay today.

But to his disappointment, he couldn't get an application because his partner, Jerry Biga, was not present and they didn't have a witness.
Carty and his partner have been together 20 years and had a civil union ceremony 10 years ago, but Carty said he never thought he'd see same-sex marriage in New Jersey.
"Not in my lifetime. I'm so shocked. I'm really shocked," said the 61-year-old retired postal worker. "It's just a good thing. I still can't believe it."
Asbury Park city manager Terry Reidy said the earliest the city can perform a ceremony is 9 a.m. Monday, 72 hours after the first application was taken today. In all, the city took four applications by late afternoon but the clerk's office fielded a number of phone calls from people asking about the process.
"This means discrimination against same-sex couples who are in love with each other and who want to get married is now over," Reidy said.
Opponents to gay marriage were disappointed in the state Supreme Court's ruling.

"Court after court is misinterpreting and misreading the law in order to get the result that they wish, which is to destroy the historical definition of marriage. Once you do that by a judicial fiat, no longer will you be able to limit marriage just to two people of the same gender," said John Tomicki, president of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage.

"We would still wish that the question were decided not by the court, not by the Legislature, but by a referendum," Tomicki said.
Christie went to court to challenge a lower-court ruling that legalized gay marriage in New Jersey last month, and had asked the Supreme Court to postpone the first same-sex weddings until he was finished appealing.
Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ruled Sept. 27 that same-sex couples were being denied equal rights and hundreds of federal benefits in the wake of a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in June striking down the Defense of Marriage Act.
She declined last week to issue a stay, which would have delayed the first same-sex marriages planned for Monday, saying Christie was likely to lose his appeal and that gay couples “would suffer many hardships of constitutional magnitude if the stay were to be issued, but the state has not demonstrated how it would suffer in any meaningful way.”
The judge added that California state officials were not harmed as gay marriage rights were extended, withdrawn and then extended again to their residents over the last five years. “The California experience teaches that marriage can be extended to same-sex couples in a state and then removed without dire consequences to the state,” she wrote.
Six families and the gay-rights group Garden State Equality argued that the U.S. Supreme Court had extended more than 1,000 federal tax and legal benefits to same-sex couples, but only if they were in “lawful marriages.”
New Jersey was left out because it only allowed civil unions, they said, and Jacobson agreed.
Christie argues that the Obama administration is the one infringing on gay couples’ equal rights and should be sued. Federal agencies are denying marriage benefits to civil unions even though New Jersey considers them to be equal, the Christie administration argues. The governor also says same-sex marriage should be put on the ballot in New Jersey.
The Supreme Court agreed to fast-track Christie’s appeal and has scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 6 or 7. On a parallel track, advocates are pushing state lawmakers to find the votes to override Christie’s veto of a gay marriage bill last year. The deadline before the bill expires is Jan. 14.
The state’s highest court has already ruled that same-sex couples in New Jersey must get all the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex married couples, but in that 2006 case, Lewis v. Harris, they stopped short of calling for marriage rights. The Democratic-controlled Legislature at the time set up civil unions instead.
Star-Ledger staff writers Kelly HeyboerSusan K. LivioMaryAnn Spoto and Jenna Portnoy 
and Adam Gonzalez

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