Lambda Legal Asks New Jersey State Supreme Court to Hear Case Seeking Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

(Trenton, September 21, 2004) - Lambda Legal said today that it will ask the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear its lawsuit seeking marriage for same-sex couples. Lambda Legal filed its final appeal papers in the lawsuit today and will file papers tomorrow asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear the case. The state’s high court could announce within a matter of weeks whether it’s taking the case directly.

Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit in state court in June 2002 on behalf of seven lesbian and gay couples from throughout the state. The lawsuit is based solely on the New Jersey Constitution - arguing that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates the state constitution’s guarantees of equality and liberty for all New Jerseyans -- and, consequently, the New Jersey Supreme Court will have the last word in the case.

“This case is moving closer toward a ruling from the state’s high court,” said David Buckel, Director of Lambda Legal’s Marriage Project and the lead attorney on the case. “Same-sex couples in New Jersey have waited long enough for the critical protections and security only marriage provides. Our clients pay the same taxes as everyone else and they need the same legal rights - nothing more and nothing less.”

After a lower-court loss in the historic lawsuit last fall, Lambda Legal filed an appeal in the mid-level appellate court that began a series of court filings between Lambda Legal and the State of New Jersey. Today’s filing brings that phase of the case to a close and opens the door to take the case directly to the New Jersey Supreme Court. From the beginning it was clear both sides intended to argue this case all the way to the high court; the State of New Jersey has consented to Lambda Legal’s motion to move the case to the state high court. If the state Supreme Court takes the case, all of the appeals papers that have already been filed will be transferred to the Supreme Court and it will set the case for oral arguments.

The appeals papers Lambda Legal filed today also address New Jersey’s new domestic partnership law, which took effect over the summer. Lambda Legal told the court that while the law provides important protections to same-sex couples, it doesn’t give couples all of the same legal rights and security marriage provides. “The domestic partnership law is an important start, but it falls far short of marriage,” Buckel said. “Lesbian and gay couples in New Jersey won’t have equal protections and security until they can get married, and that’s what we’re seeking.”

The seven plaintiff couples in the case have been together between 11 and 32 years. Five of the seven couples have children. All of them want and need the legal security that comes with marriage but has been denied to them. They include: Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow, two Episcopalian pastors from Union City, Hudson County who have been a couple for 10 years; Karen and Marcye Nicholson-McFadden, who have been together 13 years and are raising a four-year-old son, Kasey, and a one-year-old daughter, Maya; Saundra Heath and Alicia Toby, who have been together 15 years and are leaders in Newark’s Liberation In Truth Unity Fellowship church; Craig Hutchison and Chris Lodewyks, who have been a couple for 32 years and live in Pompton Lakes; Marilyn Maneely and Diane Marini, a southern New Jersey couple who have been together for 14 years; Sarah and Suyin Lael, a 13-year couple raising three young girls Zenzali, Tenaj and Dani; and Maureen Killian and Cindy Meneghin, a couple of 30 years with an eleven-year-old son, Josh, and a nine-year-old daughter, Sarah.

The words “husband,” “wife,” “spouse,” or some form of the word “marry” appear in more than 850 separate provisions of New Jersey law. Beyond legal rights and responsibilities, marriage is an enormous part of day-to-day life and is the most common way that couples prove their enduring commitment to each other.

Lawrence S. Lustberg of Gibbons, DelDeo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, one of New Jersey's largest and most prestigious law firms, are cooperating attorneys for Lambda Legal in this case.