N.J. gay-marriage issue headed for court

[marmar]

N.J. gay-marriage issue headed for court
By Adrienne Lu

Inquirer Trenton Bureau


Gay-rights activists intend to take the fight to allow gay couples to marry in New Jersey directly to the state Supreme Court, advocates said yesterday, one day after the state Senate defeated a bill to allow same-sex marriage.

"We're not even taking a day's rest," said Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay-rights advocacy group Garden State Equality, which has spearheaded the push for same-sex marriage in New Jersey. "Our members have gotten off the mat and are out there continuing the fight seamlessly for marriage equality."

The setback for gay-marriage advocates in New Jersey followed last month's in Albany, where the New York Senate defeated a measure to allow gay couples to wed. Nationally, activists will soon turn their attention to California, where a federal court will hear a challenge to the state's gay-marriage ban.

That case, which could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, was brought not by the nation's most prominent gay rights advocacy groups, but by a group of activists from Hollywood. It is being watched closely because it could determine whether gay couples nationwide have a right to marry.

In New Jersey, Goldstein said Garden State Equality would partner with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national gay-rights advocacy organization, to pursue its options. .......(more)

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