On Friday, September 27, a New Jersey State judge ruled that same-sex couples should have legal rights to marriage starting on October 21. Since 2007, the New Jersey has recognized gay marriages under civil unions, which did not grant these couples the same federal rights. A year ago, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, vetoed a bill that would have legalized gay marriage in New Jersey. This past June, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriages should be recognized by the federal government's benefits agencies, but not civil marriages. So, the New Jersey judge stated that limiting same-sex couples in New Jersey to civil marriages is unconstitutional. According to CNN, ruling may be appealed and go to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
How influential do you think this case will be in regards to legalizing gay marriage? What do you think the outcome of this case will be? How do you think this ruling or potential appeal will affect the rest of the country? Any other thoughts?
4 comments:
I that this case will follow the trends of the other state cases like in California, Washington( I'm pretty sure), and Maryland. According to this recent Gallup poll recently 52% of Americans believe that Gay marriage should be legalized, however I'm not sure of the specific statistics for New Jersey, as I want to know if them majority is more conservative or liberal . Also the comments section of the article seems to agree that it will head this way, and is directly against Defense of Marriage Act. As the United States moves more secular, It likely will be heading this direction, however fast or slow it maybe.
I think that it is a big step to declare same-sex marriage legal, as opposed to civil unions because of the obvious financial differences. As Keith mentioned, it seems like our nation is headed in this direction, but we are unsure of the timing. I think that it will not be that influential across the entire nation because there are already other states that have legalized gay marriage. People will notice and take a stand, but it won't be as influential as the first or second states to legalize. I think that the judge's logic is sound and I think that they will either have to legalize gay marriage, or give benefits to civil unions.
I think that as Keith and Connor mentioned this is the perfect for the same-sex marriage movement. This did come as a little bit of a surprise for me though, I didn't think that New Jersey of all the remaining states that haven't allowed same-sex marriage would say this. Also, just because a Judge says that same-sex marriage should be legal does this mean that majority of the public of New Jersey is on the same mindset. I'm interested in figuring out what happens next. What state do you guys feel is next in line to legalize gay marriage?
I think this ruling compounded with other pro-gay marriage ruling will be very influential. As Keith said, there is current trend of increasing support of gay marriage. I believe at this rate, gay marriage will become recognized in most states. Also, the federal governments recognition of same-sex marriage would be influential to state governments. I think it's about time that New Jersey legalized gay marriage.
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