FollowUp 10: NJ Democrats Call for Marriage Equality

Breaking News from Garden State Equality and Lambda Legal:

In our marriage equality case Garden State Equality v Dow, in which Garden State Equality and seven couples are represented by Lambda Legal and the Gibbons law firm, the state trial court has reinstated our claim of federal equal protection. 

The court had already upheld our claim of state equal protection.   So now our case will be heard on both state and federal constitutional grounds. 

It's a happy day as we pursue all roads to justice, marriage equality in the courts and marriage equality via an override in the state legislature.  

Best,
Steven Goldstein
Chair, Garden State Equality

This is very good news.  It is not yet on the Lambda Legal website.  It is my opinion that the federal grounds are far more important.  Until there is marriage equality that is portable from state to state and recognized for federal purposes, we are not equal citizens.

Update 28 February 2012:  On 21 February, Lambda Legal put this on their website:

(Trenton, February 21, 2012) – In response to the plaintiff’s request for reconsideration, a New Jersey Superior Court today reinstated the federal equal protection claim in Lambda Legal’s case seeking marriage equality on behalf of Garden State Equality and seven same-sex couples and their children harmed by the state’s unequal civil union system.

 There is also commentary from Lambda Legal.

 "We are pleased that the New Jersey Superior Court will allow us to show how civil unions fail to provide to same-sex couples the equality promised by both the New Jersey Constitution and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution," said Jon Davidson, Legal Director at Lambda Legal. "Having both a state and federal equal protection claim will only make our case stronger. We look forward to presenting a complete record of the discrimination that New Jersey’s same-sex couples and their children face because of their relegation to civil unions rather than marriage."

"Civil union consigns New Jersey’s same-sex couples to second-class status and it continues to harm families. New Jersey’s exclusion interferes during medical crises, leads to the denial of health insurance, and contributes to discrimination even in funeral homes. These families need marriage equality and should not have to live with a law that treats them as inferior," Davidson continued.

9 January 2012, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.

25 January 2012, FollowUp 1.

26 January 2012, FollowUp 2.

28 January 2012, FollowUp 3.

30 January 2012, FollowUp 4.

31 January 2012, FollowUp 5.

3 February 2012, FollowUp 6.

10 February 2012, FollowUp 7.

13 February 2012, FollowUp 8.

18 February 2012, FollowUp 9.