New Jersey Gay Marriage Defeat: What Happens Next?

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Defeated last week in the state legislature, gay marriage supporters in New Jersey have vowed to renew their bid to legalize marriage via the judicial system.

Garden State Equality, the group at the head of the New Jersey fight, and Lambda Legal, a national gay-rights legal organization, are planning to take their case to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Lambda Legal spokesman Leslie Gabel-Brett said the group expects to “be able to file legal action in a matter of weeks.”

Although Gabel-Brett wouldn’t get into legal specifics, the group will likely try to prove that the legislature, in passing a civil unions law in 2006, did not fulfill an order from the New Jersey Supreme Court to grant same-sex couples equal rights.

It was in 2006 that the court, in Lewis v. Harris, declared that same-sex couples deserve equal rights and benefits. But the court kicked the issue back to the legislature, giving lawmakers 180 days to come up with a law.

Marriage supporters say they have proof the resulting law doesn’t work: One, a commission set up by the legislature found that the law “encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children.”

Two, supporters say they’ve heard an avalanche of complaints from same-sex couples who have been treated unfairly by hospitals and other institutions despite their civil union status.

Three, even though the legislative process failed to legalize gay marriage, it resulted in several floor speeches that are now in the public record. And many lawmakers who voted no also admitted that the civil unions law isn’t working.

“That’s an awesome record that has now been compiled for the court,” said Steven Goldstein, the head of Garden State Equality.

Opponents, such as Len Deo, the president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council and Patrick Brannigan, the director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, disagree on the second point. Both told TPM that the many complaints made publicly, at venues such as a state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, don’t reflect the small number of complaints officially filed with the state’s Division of Civil Rights.

The New Jersey Attorney General’s office, which overseas the division, tells TPM there have been 12 official complaints since the civil unions law passed in 2006.

“Now, I find that suspect,” Deo said.

Deo said his organization will likely file an amicus brief with the New Jersey Supreme Court if Lambda succeeds in getting its case heard. The council filed a similar brief in the Lewis v. Harris case. But for now, they’re waiting to see what Lambda Legal does before they make any moves.

In any case, the fight is not over.

Latest News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: