Preparations are underway in New Jersey
for possibly hundreds of joyous weddings as a court order that allows
gay marriage in the state officially takes effect on Monday.
“Some have been together for 30 or 40
years, some of them like the symbolism of the early wedding, and
there are some couples where it's vital – people who are ill, where
a day might make all the difference,” Troy Stevenson, executive
director of Garden State Equality, told The New York Times.
“People normally have months if not years to plan a wedding, and we
have days.”
More than a dozen city halls started
issuing marriage licenses to gay couples after the New Jersey Supreme
Court on Friday unanimously denied Republican Governor Chris
Christie's request for a stay on the lower court's ruling until the
issue is settled.
(Related: New
Jersey Supreme Court won't delay start of gay marriage.)
While its uncertain how the high court
will rule in an appeal to the case, Friday's ruling casts a dark
shadow on the state's prospects.
“We applied settled legal standards
and determined that the state has not shown a reasonable probability
it will succeed on the merits,” wrote Chief Justice Stuart Rabner
in the decision.
On her weeknight MSNBC show, Rachel
Maddow nudged on-the-fence New Jersey couples worried that the issue
was not entirely settled: “While marriage rights are still being
adjudicated, just get married. It has an effect.”
Possibly the largest obstacle to a
large turnout on Monday is New Jersey's 72-hour waiting period. Only
a handful of city halls began issuing marriage licenses to gay
couples on Thursday; most waited until after the court acted on
Friday.
(Related: Cory
Booker plans to marry 10 gay couples on Monday.)