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Asbury Park to join gay marriage suitCity will become part of appeal 7 same-sex New Jersey couples filed in Mercer County BY TOM FEENEY, Star-Ledger (njn.com) from the Web, April 22, 2004 Asbury Park, NJ -- The Asbury Park City Council voted last night to take a new legal tack in its effort to secure the right to marry gay and lesbian couples. The city will join a Mercer County case, in which seven same- sex couples claim a constitutional right to marry, rather than pursue its own suit in state Superior Court in Monmouth County, the council decided last night. The Mercer County case -- Lewis vs. Harris -- was filed two years ago and is much closer to being resolved than the Asbury Park case, which was filed on March 15, said city attorney Fred Raffeto. "The Lewis vs. Harris case represents the most expeditious manner in which to have the important public issues that are at stake in these cases resolved," Raffeto said, before the council voted 3-0 to approve the new legal strategy. Asbury Park became the first municipality in New Jersey to sanction a gay marriage when, on March 5, a deputy city clerk issued a marriage certificate to Ric Best, 44, and Louis Navarrete, 42, the owners of an antique store in the city. The men solemnized their 15-year relationship March 8 at a City Hall wedding ceremony performed by Deputy Mayor James Bruno. With that ceremony, Asbury Park joined a handful of other towns around the country at the center of a national debate on gay marriage. Like New Paltz, N.Y., and San Francisco, Asbury Park began challenging long-held assumptions about state laws by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Sixteen gay and lesbian couples applied for licenses in Asbury Park after Best and Navarrete did. But all of the towns around the country that began issuing the licenses in recent months have now stopped. A county judge in Portland, Ore., ruled this week that there can be no more same-sex marriages performed in that city, though he upheld the legality of the 3,000 marriages already solemnized. That was the last jurisdiction in the country where gay marriages were still performed. Best and Navarrete were the only gay couple to be married in Asbury Park. After their wedding became public, state Attorney General Peter Harvey ordered the city to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples and warned city officials that they could face criminal charges if they didn't. The city council voted during an emergency session two days after the Best/Navarrete nuptials to comply with Harvey's ruling. The panel also voted to file the lawsuit in Superior Court in Monmouth County. The suit asked the court to clarify state laws on gay marriages. Asbury Park contends that the statutes do not prohibit same-sex unions; Harvey contends they do. The American Center for Law and Justice -- a legal advocacy group founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson -- filed its own suit in Monmouth County in which it asked the court to force Asbury Park to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Attorneys for the city, the state and the ACLJ had a pretrial conference in Monmouth County, during which Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson indicated that he was not likely to rule on the Asbury Park case until Lewis vs. Harris has been decided, Raffeto said. Instead of waiting for that to happen, the city council decided to put its case on hold to get involved as a "friend of the court" in the Lewis vs. Harris case. A Superior Court judge in Mercer County dismissed Lewis vs. Harris in November, ruling that social change of that magnitude "is properly accomplished in the legislative arena." Two months later, the Legislature approved a law that provides for "domestic partnerships" for gay and lesbian couples. New Jersey became only the fourth state in the nation to adopt such a law. Once the new law takes effect in July, gay and lesbian couples who register their partnerships with their local governments will enjoy some of the same advantages married, heterosexual couples have -- hospital visitation rights, inheritance transfer tax exemptions and the power to make important medical decisions for an incapacitated partner, for example. Domestic partnership will not have the same legal status as marriage, so the seven couples who filed the Mercer County suit decided to appeal. The case is pending in the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. Steven Rosenthal of Asbury Park praised the city council last night for "having the guts to stand up to a society that up until now hasn't faced up to this issue." Rosenthal and his partner, James Udaloy, were among the 16 couples who were granted marriage licenses by Asbury Park but denied the right to marry after Harvey's ruling. Rosenthal said he and Udaloy are interested in becoming involved in the Lewis vs. Harris suit. Tom Feeney can be reached at tfeeney@starledger.com or (732) 761-8436. |
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