We Vow to Fight a Stay; Same-Sex Couples in NJ Must Be Allowed to Marry

New Jersey Attorney General John Jay Hoffman has announced plans to file papers seeking to stay last Friday's ruling by a New Jersey Superior Court allowing same-sex couples to marry.

We'll fight the State's efforts to stay this decision. We're going to do everything we can to make sure same-sex couples can begin making plans to marry starting on the date set by the court - Oct 21st. We will file our opposition on Friday and we'll be making the case that  we are likely to win and any delay in allowing same-sex couples to marry is too great a hardship to allow a stay.

—

In June 2011, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit seeking the freedom to marry, arguing that barring same-sex couples from marriage and relegating them to civil union violates both the New Jersey Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment of the federal Constitution. This June, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of DOMA, and Lambda Legal filed a motion for summary judgment in the New Jersey case, arguing that by barring marriage, the state of New Jersey denies same-sex couples the full range of federal benefits, rights, and protections available after the Windsor decision. Just last Friday the New Jersey Superior Court ruled that same-sex couples in New Jersey must be allowed to marry. Unless it is stayed upon appeal, the decision takes effect on October 21.

Meet all the plaintiffs and their families.

Learn more about the case.

Read the press release.