N.J. high court opens door to gay marriage

Ruling met with confusion
Outside the court, news of the ruling caused confusion, with many of the roughly 100 gay marriage supporters outside asking each other what it meant.

“I’m definitely encouraged,” said Chris Lodewyks, one of the plaintiffs who gathered at a Newark law office. But he added, “I’m not sure what this exactly means in terms of marriage.”

Another plaintiff, Saundra Toby-Heath, was more effusive: “I feel they were listening and paying attention to us as human beings who wanted to have the same rights.”

Garden State Equality, New Jersey’s main gay political organization, quickly announced that three lawmakers would introduce a bill in the Legislature to give full marriage rights to gay couples.

“New Jersey is a progressive state and has a tradition of tolerance,” said one of the lawmakers, Democratic Assemblyman Reed Gusciora.

GOP Assemblyman Richard Merkt said he would seek to have all seven justices impeached. “Neither the framers of New Jersey’s 1947 constitution, nor the voters who ratified it, ever remotely contemplated the possibility of same-sex marriage,” Merkt said.

Domestic partnerships already in place
Gay couples in New Jersey can already apply for domestic partnerships under a law passed in 2004. Among other things, domestic partnerships give couples the right to inherit possessions if there is no will and health care coverage for partners of state employees.

Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine supports domestic partnerships, but not gay marriage.

Former Gov. James E. McGreevey, who resigned in 2004 after announcing that he was gay and had an affair with a male staff member, praised the court’s decision. “I applaud the court’s courage,” McGreevey said. “I regret not having had the fortitude to embrace this right during my tenure as governor.”

Supporters pushing for full gay marriage have had a two-year losing streak in state courts, including those in New York, Washington state, and both Nebraska and Georgia, where voter-approved bans on gay marriage were reinstated.

They also have suffered at the ballot boxes in 20 states where constitutions have been amended to ban same-sex unions.

Cases similar to the one ruled on Wednesday, which was filed by seven gay New Jersey couples, are pending in California, Connecticut, Iowa and Maryland.

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