New Jersey Judge Overrules State’s Refusal to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

A court in New Jersey is the first to overrule a state’srefusal to legalize same -sex marriage. New Jersey judge recently ruled thatthe state must permit same-sex couples to wed because forbidding it woulddeprive them of their constitutional rights set out by the U.S. Supreme Courtin June. Experts say New Jersey was the place to challenge this particularissue because the highest court in New Jersey decided that same-sex couplesshould have the same rights and benefits of marriage in Lewis v. Harris.However, in that case the court did not expressly state same-sex couples had a fundamentalright to marry. Instead, the court left it up to the legislature to define howto apply equal protection.

Now, judge Mary C. Jacobson has stated that the federaldecision meant that New Jersey law had to change and must permit same-sexcouples to get married. Jacobson  “Under these circumstances, the currentinequality visited upon same-sex civil union couples offends the New JerseyConstitution, creates an incomplete set of rights that Lewis sought to prevent,and is not compatible with ‘a reasonable conception of basic humandignity.’ ” Gay rights advocates are thrilled with the ruling and areanticipating that the decision will help the argument that marriage is a fundamentalright for gay couples.

See Kate Zernike and Marc Santora Judge Orders New Jersey to Allow Gay Marriage, New York Times, Sept. 27, 2013.