A group of same-sex couples filed suit in New Jersey this week, seeking full marriage equality for the Garden State.
The seven couples, represented by Garden State Equality and Lambda Legal, filed suit in the state Superior Court Wednesday.
The filing argues that by preventing same-sex couples from marrying, the state is violating both the New Jersey Constitution and the federal 14th Amendment guarantee to equal protection and due process.
While the state’s civil-union law is meant to offer the same rights and benefits as full marriage, the case argues that it fails to do so.
“By now, everybody in New Jersey knows that civil unions don’t work,” said Garden State Equality chair Steven Goldstein. “Since civil unions became law in New Jersey, Garden State Equality has received reports from multitudes of civil-union couples who have told us their employers refuse to provide the equal rights and benefits the civil-union law mandates. It’s time for the courts to fix this mess and give full marriage equality to New Jersey’s same-sex couples and their children.”
Among the plaintiffs are Daniel Weiss and John Grant, both 46 and Asbury Park residents, who got married in Connecticut last year after encountering hospital officials who failed to understand their civil union when John suffered a shattered skull in a car accident.
Also named are Keith Heimann, 53, and Tom Davidson, 49, Shrewsbury residents who’ve been together for nearly 25 years. The couple’s two children were dropped from the family’s health-insurance plan after one of their employers found inadequate “documentation” of their relationship, although they have been joined in a civil union.
The other couples include Monmouth Junction residents Marsha Shapiro, 56, and Louise Walpin, 57, who’ve been together for 22 years and raised four children; Butler residents Cindy Meneghin and Maureen Killian, both 53, who have been together for 36 years and raised two kids; North Plainfield residents Tevonda and Erica Bradshaw, both 36, who’ve been together for more than four years and just had a son; Abederdeen residents Marcye, 47, and Karen Nicholson-McFadden, 45, who are the parents of two and have been together for 21 years; and Phillipsburg residents Elena, 33, and Liz Quinones, 45, parents of four who’ve been together for nine years.
Early last year, after the state legislature defeated a marriage-equality bill, the two organizations filed a suit with the state Supreme Court on behalf of the original plaintiffs in Lewis v. Harris, the case that led to the creation of the state’s civil-union law, urging the court to revisit that decision.
The top court, however, declined to hear the case, saying instead it should first be brought before the lower courts.
Last month, the state’s only out legislator, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, reintroduced a marriage-equality bill in his chamber.
Following New York’s adoption of same-sex marriage last week, New Jersey governor Chris Christie commented that he would not sign into a law a bill to legalize marriage equality.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].