Lower-Court Loss in Lawsuit Seeking Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in New Jersey 'Propels Us Forward' To Higher Courts Where Case Will Be Decided, Lambda Legal Says

(Trenton, NJ, November 5, 2003) - Lambda Legal said today that a trial-level state court ruling against legalizing marriage for same-sex couples in New Jersey moves the case forward toward the state’s Supreme Court.

“We’re not surprised by this lower-court ruling,” said David Buckel, Lambda Senior Staff Attorney and lead attorney on the lawsuit. “More than anything, this ruling propels us forward to higher courts where both sides have always known it will be decided. Today’s ruling speeds the clock up toward the day lesbian and gay couples in New Jersey can seek the protections they need for their families from the state’s high court.”

Lambda Legal filed the historic lawsuit against the State of New Jersey in June 2002 on behalf of seven lesbian and gay couples seeking full marriage rights. The lawsuit is based solely on the New Jersey Constitution. Therefore, the New Jersey Supreme Court will have the last word in the case. Lambda Legal said it is appealing today’s ruling, which will be filed in the next several weeks.

“We want to resolve this case because families in New Jersey badly need and deserve the protections marriage provides. Marriage is the legal safety net that our society provides to support committed couples, and same-sex partners need the rights and responsibilities that come with it just as much as heterosexual couples,” Buckel said.

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.

Leading up the list of plaintiff couples are Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow, two Episcopalian pastors from Union City, Hudson County who have been a couple for 11 years. In addition to Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow, the plaintiff couples in the case are: Karen and Marcye Nicholson-McFadden, who have been together 14 years and are raising a four-year-old son, Kasey, and a newborn, Maya; Saundra Toby-Heath and Alicia Heath-Toby, who have been together 14 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 12 years; Sarah and Suyin Lael, a 13-year couple raising three young girls Zenzali, Tanaj and Danica; and Maureen Killian and Cindy Meneghin, a couple of 29 years with a ten-year-old son, Josh, and 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.

“In civil rights movements in this country, seeking freedom has always been on a long road - and the struggle for marriage is no different,” Buckel said. “But this is familiar territory for us. Just this summer, Lambda Legal won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case striking down Texas’s sodomy law and every law like it in the nation - but we saw several lower-court losses along the way. One day we will win the freedom to marry because we’re fighting for our families.”

Lambda Legal’s attorneys on the case are David Buckel, Susan Sommer and Adam Aronson. Lawrence S. Lustberg and Risa E. Kaufman of Gibbons, DelDeo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, one of New Jersey’s largest and most prestigious law firms, are cooperating attorneys for Lambda Legal.

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Contact: Eric Ferrero, 212-809-8585 ext: 227; Pager: 888-987-1984
Steven Goldstein, 917-449-8918