Gay rights group Lambda
Legal filed its promised lawsuit to win gay marriage in New
Jersey Thursday.
“The New Jersey Supreme Court ordered
equality for same-sex couples when it decided our marriage lawsuit in
2006, and the legislature has failed to meet that crystal-clear
obligation,” Hayley Gorenberg, deputy legal director of the group,
said in a statement. “Civil unions are a failed legislative
experiment in providing equality in New Jersey – marriage equality
is the only solution.”
An optimistic Steven Goldstein, CEO of
Garden
State Equality, New Jersey's largest gay advocate, told NJ.com:
“We've lived the agony of defeat. Now it's time for the thrill of
victory.”
The challenge comes after senators
killed a gay marriage bill in January. The defeat means that the
Legislature isn't likely to revisit the issue over the next four
years as Governor Chris Christie, a Republican who took the helm in
January, does not support giving gay couples the right to marry.
In Lewis v. Harris, the New
Jersey Supreme Court unanimously agreed that it is unconstitutional
to deny gay and lesbian couples the rights granted to married
heterosexual couples and ordered the Legislature to remedy the
situation. Lawmakers responded with a civil unions law.
Lambda Legal is representing six gay
and lesbian couples plus the surviving spouse from a seventh in its
challenge. The lawsuit claims civil unions are not equal to
marriage.
“After the court decision, we hoped
that our civil union would provide much of the security we had been
seeking, but we have learned that too often, that is not the case,”
plaintiffs Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow said. “Even the
acceptance we experience is completely arbitrary and dependent on
individuals' attitudes toward us. It's the difference between rights
and luck.”
Activists announced they would return
to court the day after senators voted down the gay marriage bill.