Gay weddings can begin today in New Jersey after Governor Chris Christie lost a bid to block the ceremonies last week and local officials worked to make marriage-license forms available to same-sex couples.
Asbury Park, the faded coastal resort of 15,900 residents where gay homeowners led an economic revival, extended its registrar’s hours on Oct. 18 and 19, once the state Supreme Court denied the Republican governor’s request for a stay. Some couples said they plan to tie the knot as soon as they can.
The New Jersey Supreme Court unlocked the path to same-sex nuptials Oct. 18, and such weddings can start today, the court said. Couples with proof they were married in another state can be wedded now, said Asbury Park Deputy Mayor Sue Henderson, who has a lesbian partner of 21 years. She’ll direct others who wish to marry immediately to Superior Court in Freehold where judges can waive a required 72-hour waiting period for a license.
“There’s nothing in our way now,” said Lambertville City Councilwoman Beth Asaro, 53, in a tearful telephone interview Oct. 18. She and her partner, Joanne Schailey, 56, a registered nurse, were married in New York two years ago, she said. So they won’t have to wait the 72 hours.
“We’ll just show up with our license and we can get married right after midnight,” Asaro said. David DelVecchio, the mayor of the city of 3,900 on the Delaware River, had plans to preside over their wedding, which may be New Jersey’s first, at 12:01 a.m. today. He officiated the couple’s civil union ceremony in 2007, one of the first in the state.
[h=2]Booker’s First[/h]Newark Mayor Cory Booker also planned to hold same-sex weddings at 12:01 a.m. today, according to James Allen, a spokesman. Booker, a Democrat, is awaiting his swearing in to the U.S. Senate after defeating Republican Steve Lonegan in a special election Oct. 26 to fill the remaining 15 months in the term of Democrat Frank Lautenberg, who died at 89 in June.
As the leader of New Jersey’s most populous city for almost eight years, Booker has refused to officiate over marriage ceremonies “because gay couples have been denied that equal right,” Allen said in a statement.
The Oct. 18 ruling delivered a blow to Christie, 51, who is running for re-election next month. He vetoed a bill to allow same-sex marriage in February 2012. A practicing Roman Catholic, he has said he believes marriage should be restricted to one man and one woman and has said a change in that standard is too important for the courts or the legislature to make. He has said voters should be given the opportunity to decide the issue.
[h=2]Voters Favor[/h]Most New Jerseyans disagree with the governor, polls show.
In a Quinnipiac University survey released Oct. 10, 61 percent of likely voters said Christie should drop his opposition to the Sept. 27 decision by Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson that the civil-union law discriminates against same-sex couples. Christie sought a stay of the ruling pending an appeal to the state’s high court, which won’t hear arguments on the matter until January.
Christie’s stance on the issue hasn’t given his Democratic challenger, state Senator Barbara Buono, 60, who supports gay marriage, an edge. The Quinnipiac poll showed 62 percent backed the governor’s re-election to 33 percent who supported Buono.
New Jersey, the most densely populated U.S. state, was home to 16,875 same-sex couples in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by the University of California at Los Angeles’s Williams Institute, which studies sexual orientation and gender-based public-policy issues.
[h=2]Economic Boon[/h]Legalizing gay marriage would add $200 million to the New Jersey economy mainly through weddings and tourism, creating more than 1,400 jobs and generating $15.1 million in state and local government revenue over three years, according to a 2009 study by the institute.
New Jersey is beset by unemployment that measured 8.5 percent in August, higher than the rate in surrounding states and more than the U.S. figure of 7.3 percent.
Christie directed state and municipal officials to comply with Jacobson’s order after the high court rejected his request for a stay, his spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said by e-mail.
“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,” Drewniak said.
Same-sex couples will be subject to procedural rules including the 72-hour waiting period for a license, according to an e-mail sent to local officials by State Registrar Vincent Arrisi. State law lets couples seek a judicial waiver to obtain a license immediately.
The ruling Oct. 18 set municipal officials to work fielding requests for licenses, according to Asbury Park’s Henderson.
“When the ruling came down, in order for people to rush and get their license, there wasn’t enough time,” Henderson, who is empowered to officiate, said by telephone Oct. 18. She expected the pace of nuptials to quicken as couples learn that legal barriers are down at least for the rest of this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at [email protected]
Asbury Park, the faded coastal resort of 15,900 residents where gay homeowners led an economic revival, extended its registrar’s hours on Oct. 18 and 19, once the state Supreme Court denied the Republican governor’s request for a stay. Some couples said they plan to tie the knot as soon as they can.
The New Jersey Supreme Court unlocked the path to same-sex nuptials Oct. 18, and such weddings can start today, the court said. Couples with proof they were married in another state can be wedded now, said Asbury Park Deputy Mayor Sue Henderson, who has a lesbian partner of 21 years. She’ll direct others who wish to marry immediately to Superior Court in Freehold where judges can waive a required 72-hour waiting period for a license.
“There’s nothing in our way now,” said Lambertville City Councilwoman Beth Asaro, 53, in a tearful telephone interview Oct. 18. She and her partner, Joanne Schailey, 56, a registered nurse, were married in New York two years ago, she said. So they won’t have to wait the 72 hours.
“We’ll just show up with our license and we can get married right after midnight,” Asaro said. David DelVecchio, the mayor of the city of 3,900 on the Delaware River, had plans to preside over their wedding, which may be New Jersey’s first, at 12:01 a.m. today. He officiated the couple’s civil union ceremony in 2007, one of the first in the state.
[h=2]Booker’s First[/h]Newark Mayor Cory Booker also planned to hold same-sex weddings at 12:01 a.m. today, according to James Allen, a spokesman. Booker, a Democrat, is awaiting his swearing in to the U.S. Senate after defeating Republican Steve Lonegan in a special election Oct. 26 to fill the remaining 15 months in the term of Democrat Frank Lautenberg, who died at 89 in June.
As the leader of New Jersey’s most populous city for almost eight years, Booker has refused to officiate over marriage ceremonies “because gay couples have been denied that equal right,” Allen said in a statement.
The Oct. 18 ruling delivered a blow to Christie, 51, who is running for re-election next month. He vetoed a bill to allow same-sex marriage in February 2012. A practicing Roman Catholic, he has said he believes marriage should be restricted to one man and one woman and has said a change in that standard is too important for the courts or the legislature to make. He has said voters should be given the opportunity to decide the issue.
[h=2]Voters Favor[/h]Most New Jerseyans disagree with the governor, polls show.
In a Quinnipiac University survey released Oct. 10, 61 percent of likely voters said Christie should drop his opposition to the Sept. 27 decision by Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson that the civil-union law discriminates against same-sex couples. Christie sought a stay of the ruling pending an appeal to the state’s high court, which won’t hear arguments on the matter until January.
Christie’s stance on the issue hasn’t given his Democratic challenger, state Senator Barbara Buono, 60, who supports gay marriage, an edge. The Quinnipiac poll showed 62 percent backed the governor’s re-election to 33 percent who supported Buono.
New Jersey, the most densely populated U.S. state, was home to 16,875 same-sex couples in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by the University of California at Los Angeles’s Williams Institute, which studies sexual orientation and gender-based public-policy issues.
[h=2]Economic Boon[/h]Legalizing gay marriage would add $200 million to the New Jersey economy mainly through weddings and tourism, creating more than 1,400 jobs and generating $15.1 million in state and local government revenue over three years, according to a 2009 study by the institute.
New Jersey is beset by unemployment that measured 8.5 percent in August, higher than the rate in surrounding states and more than the U.S. figure of 7.3 percent.
Christie directed state and municipal officials to comply with Jacobson’s order after the high court rejected his request for a stay, his spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said by e-mail.
“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,” Drewniak said.
Same-sex couples will be subject to procedural rules including the 72-hour waiting period for a license, according to an e-mail sent to local officials by State Registrar Vincent Arrisi. State law lets couples seek a judicial waiver to obtain a license immediately.
The ruling Oct. 18 set municipal officials to work fielding requests for licenses, according to Asbury Park’s Henderson.
“When the ruling came down, in order for people to rush and get their license, there wasn’t enough time,” Henderson, who is empowered to officiate, said by telephone Oct. 18. She expected the pace of nuptials to quicken as couples learn that legal barriers are down at least for the rest of this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at [email protected]