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Victory in New Jersey!

Press Release
For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 25, 2006

MEDIA CONTACT:
Samiya Bashir, Director of Communications
samiya@freedomtomarry.org
Mobile: 917-617-8660

NEW YORK, NY: In an historic decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that gay and lesbian couples can no longer be denied equal access to the rights and responsibilities conferred by marriage. The court ruled that legislature must, within 180 days, address the discrimination same-sex couples face by being denied access to marriage. It is now up to the legislature to finish the job and affirm equal marriage rights for the over 20,000 same-sex couples living in New Jersey today.

Freedom to Marry praises the leadership of Lambda Legal, who led on the case of Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow, et al. v. Gwendolyn L. Harris, etc., et al., and Garden State Equality, whose tireless work in support of New Jersey families has helped lead New Jersey to the highest level of state-wide support (56-39%) of ending the exclusion of lesbian and gay couples from marriage in the country.

The decision in favor of these same sex couples and their kids was unanimous. Three justices voted to end marriage discrimination immediately, while four said that gay and lesbian couples must be given all the rights and protections and that the legislature should, and will, have the opportunity to decide how to make that happen.

"Today's unanimous NJ Supreme Court ruling is a recognition of the equal needs and common humanity of committed same-sex couples and their kids," said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry and author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry.

"The Court said these American families are entitled to equal rights and responsibilities under the law," Wolfson continued. "As the legislature moves now to implement the constitution's command of equality, we are confident that legislators will see that the right way to end discrimination in marriage is, indeed, to end discrimination in marriage, not repackage it. The easiest next step is not to cobble together a separate new system with two lines at the clerks' office, but rather, to end the exclusion from marriage itself with two simple words, 'I do.'"

The decision, along with background about the case and the issues, can be found at www.freedomtomarry.org.

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Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Launched in 2003, Freedom to Marry is headed by Evan Wolfson, nationally recognized as a central "architect of the marriage equality movement." Freedom to Marry guides and focuses this social justice movement on a nationwide level, serving as a strategy and support center for national, state, and local partners, a catalyst that drives and shapes the national debate on marriage equality, and an alliance-builder fostering support from non-gay allies.