In Response to
ACLU-NJ Inquiry
Attorney General
Recognizes Same-Sex Marriages
from Canada and
Massachusetts
Decision a major step
forward in struggle
for marriage equality
in N.J.
For immediate
release: February 16, 2007
Contact: Annu
Mangat, ACLU-NJ Communications Director, (973) 642-2086
NEWARK, N.J. -- In response to
a formal request by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the state
Attorney General issued an opinion today stating that New Jersey must recognize
the marriage licenses of same-sex couples who were lawfully wed in Canada,
Massachusetts and other jurisdictions. Although the opinion states that
these relationships should be treated as civil unions, same-sex couples married
in those jurisdictions need not apply for a civil union license. The
marriage license they obtained will suffice to provide them with all state
rights and privileges New Jersey affords to married and civil unioned couples.
“This is a momentous day in the fight for equality and respect for all New
Jersey families,” said ACLU-NJ Legal Director Ed Barocas. “It is a
decision that recognizes our state’s honored traditions of fairness, decency and
equality. However, there still exists a two-tiered system of rights, and
separate is never equal.”
While New Jersey will still not offer marriage licenses for same-sex couples,
the attorney general’s decision ensures that same-sex couples who were lawfully
married in other jurisdictions have the full rights and protections enjoyed
under state law by heterosexual couples who also were married elsewhere and now
reside in the state.
“New Jersey should not be in the business of stripping individuals and couples
of rights they already lawfully obtained,” said Barocas. “The attorney
general recognized that our state constitution and recent New Jersey Supreme
Court decision mandate that the state cannot create a system that burdens
same-sex couples with requirements that married couples do not have.”
The ACLU-NJ inquiry, delivered to Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Governor
Corzine’s Chief Counsel Kenneth Zimmerman on December 21, 2006, requested “an
official determination as to whether the State of New Jersey and its executive
departments recognize [same-sex marriages entered into in Massachusetts or
Canada] or whether, unlike heterosexual couples married in those jurisdictions,
same-sex couples must take affirmative action (such as filing civil union forms)
to have their rights recognized.”
In its inquiry, the ACLU-NJ, citing the recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision
on the rights of same-sex couples, explained that the state of New Jersey is not
permitted to “place any disability on, or require any affirmative action of,
same-sex couples that is not required of similarly-situated heterosexual
couples” -- meaning the state cannot impose burdens or requirements on same-sex
couples that are not also imposed on heterosexual couples.
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