The New Jersey Supreme Court believes that homosexuals have the same rights at heterosexuals.
Good for them! Imagine all of us having equal rights!
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that homosexuals deserve the same rights as heterosexuals, but the state Legislature must decide whether to give same-sex couples the right to legally “marry” or create civil unions.
“The Court holds that under the equal protection guarantee of Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, committed same-sex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes,” the court said in its ruling.
The Legislature now has 180 days to address the issue. It has two options: amend the marriage statues to include same-sex couples, or “create a separate statutory structure, such as a civil union.”
“The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to same-sex couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process,” the court said.
“At this point, the Court does not consider whether committed same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, but only whether those couples are entitled to the same rights and benefits afforded to married heterosexual couples,” it said.
Damn those activist judges! How dare they rule that all men (and women) should be treated equally under the law? (/snark)
Seriously, this is great news. I only wish California had equal guts to do the same thing here.
Little by little, though, the rights of our GLBT citizens will be recognized throughout the country, and people will look back and wonder why we, as a nation, were ever so bigoted in the first place.
Personally, I was disappointed to hear Obama equivocate on the telly recently re same sex marriage — in light of the fact that, at one time (iirc) bi-racial marriage was considered a similar abomination.
There’s still so very far to go, in terms of both racism & homophobia. IMHO, fear of the Other remains one of the strongest barriers to our collective progress — engendered by simple ignorance.
Institutionalize that ignorance & a supposedly ‘civilized society’ is hardly so.
I think simple ignorance explains it in many cases. Political expediency explains it in others.
Yes indeed. Pretty damn disgraceful.
Our intrepid Judiciary-Watching Scottish Terrier, Scotus, has an excellent commentary on this case on The Pagan Science Monitor: http://pagansciencemonitor.typepad.com/.
Scotus is normally very sweet, but legalized homophobia makes him bark and bite.
I do understand the strong feelings over the nomenclature of whatever the legal contract that all couples enter into is, nonetheless the decision seems a step in the right direction even if not entirely satisfactory.
It is not an issue that effects me directly so my sensitivities may not be as attuned as they should be.
I heard some discussion that the state’s involvement with the legal relationship couples engage in might become a civil union for everyone, with “marriage” not in the picture at all. I would gladly give up the word marriage if it meant that rights were extended to same sex couples. I frankly don’t care what my legal relationship with my husband is called, but I realize I am speaking from a place of heterosexual privilege. I am curious if members of the LGBT community would be okay with that — civil unions for every one. Is the term marriage critcial to their sense of fairplay? Help me understand.