TRENTON — Gay marriage supporters will announce a lawsuit seeking to legalize it in New Jersey on Wednesday, just days after New York signed gay marriage into law. A media advisory from Lambda Legal, a legal organization that seeks gay rights, says it plans to hold a press conference Wednesday at a hotel in downtown Trenton. The case for...
Hayley Gorenberg, deputy director of Lambda Legal, spoke while attending the rally for marriage equality at the Statehouse Annex in Trenton last July.TRENTON — Gay marriage supporters will announce a lawsuit seeking to legalize it in New Jersey on Wednesday, just days after New York signed gay marriage into law.
A media advisory from Lambda Legal, a legal organization that seeks gay rights, says it plans to hold a press conference Wednesday at a hotel in downtown Trenton.
The case for gay marriage in New Jersey was dealt two setbacks last year. In January, 2010, the Democrat-controlled state Senate rejected a bill that would have given same-sex couples the right to marry. Six months later, the state Supreme Court declined to hear a case for gay marriage, saying it needs to wind its way through the lower courts first.
Supporters of gay marriage say they now have the votes to pass it in the Legislature, but not enough to override a veto by Gov. Chris Christie, who has said he will not sign it.
New Jersey has a civil union law designed to provide same-sex couples with the same rights as heterosexual married couples, but supporters of gay marriage say it has failed to achieve that.
Six states — New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts — now allow same-sex marriage, as well as the District of Columbia.
Previous coverage:
• Gay marriage legal in New York as Gov. Cuomo signs bill into law
• N.J. lawmaker pushes for passage of gay marriage legislation
• Braun: N.J. Supreme Court's refusal to hear gay marriage case raises question of Christie's influence
• N.J. gay marriage supporters, protesters prepare for Supreme Court battle