New Jersey Supreme Court clears the way for marriage equality

By | October 26, 2006

There’s good news for marriage equality out of the New Jersey Supreme Court:

New Jersey’s Supreme Court opened the door to gay marriage Wednesday, ruling that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but leaving it to lawmakers to legalize same-sex unions.The high court gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to either include same-sex couples or create a new system of civil unions for them.

This is a most wonderful step in the right direction. It still allows for legislators to pass Civil Unions instead of allowing Marriage, but that’s a small thing. This ruling still opens up the door for marriage equality. And it creates a precendent to work around all of the “definition of marriage” amendments currently being passed by a number of states. This ruling basically says that states can define marriage however they want, but they cannot deny same-sex couples the same rights that heterosexual couples receive.

The tide is turning. Slowly, but most definitely.