Gay Marriage Fight
Crosses the Hudson
By PATRICK HEALY,
NYTimes on the Web, July 9, 2006
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Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
DISAPPOINTED Protesters in Manhattan after the New York court ruling |
Now that New York's highest court
declined to legalize gay marriage last week, where's the next battleground?
Next door, in New Jersey. Gay rights advocates are storing hopes in that
state's Supreme Court, which will most likely rule on the issue sometime this
summer; a similar case is also pending in Washington State.
Lawyers on both sides of the issue said New Jersey might legalize gay marriage
when New York did not.
"As a general matter, the court has maintained an expansive view of its
Constitution," said Lawrence S. Lustberg, who argued before the New Jersey court
in February in favor of gay marriage. "The focus has long been on
safeguarding rights."
The New Jersey court usually applies a more flexible standard in discrimination
cases than the New York court. And in arguments, the New Jersey judges did
not dwell on child-rearing or the needs of parents, central issues in the New
York decision.
Even if the court legalizes same-sex marriage, it might not reverberate
nationally. "I'm not sure New Jersey will matter much in the nationwide
contest over gay marriage, simply because of the reputation of the New Jersey
Supreme Court," said Monte Stewart, president of the Marriage Law Foundation,
which opposes gay marriage.
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