Same-sex marriage could soon be enshrined in N.J. law - NJ.com
New Jersey legislators are poised to enshrine a gay couple’s right to marry into state law.
Gay couples have been able to marry in New Jersey since October 2013, when the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear a lower court ruling that said a ban on same-sex marriage violated the equal protection guarantee of the state’s constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the nation two years later.
But with the nation’s highest court potentially getting rid of a decades-old precedence that gives women access to abortions, New Jersey lawmakers say it’s the right time to make sure same-sex marriage is legally protected if a legal challenge is made against the federal rule on gay marriage.
Legislation cleared a procedural hurdle Thursday after an Assembly committee voted 4-0 to advance the bill that removes genders from state laws on marriages and civil unions.
It has the support of the Legislature’s top lawmaker, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, and is likely to be voted on during the lame duck session that lasts until the new Legislature is sworn in on Jan. 11.
“It underscores the need for us to take a look at this and move on this right now because there’s an actual threat,” said Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, D-Hudson, a sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which voted on it Thursday.
“We’re past the point of the public tolerating a second class of citizens when it comes to married couples,” he said. “When you look up the laws of our state it still reflects language that would result in the children of same-sex marriages being treated differently that could result in same sex couples being stigmatized and New Jersey, being a diverse tolerant state, New Jersey is the last place that should be living with antiquated, discriminatory marriage status.”
One Assembly Republican on the committee, Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips, R-Bergen, joined three Democrats in sending the bill (A5367) to the Assembly floor. Another Republican, Assemblyman Bob Auth, R-Bergen, attended the virtual committee hearing by wasn’t present for the vote.
The move to enshrine gay marriage into law is similar to a push to do the same with abortion rights in New Jersey.
The Reproductive Freedom Act (S3030), a bill introduced after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in September 2020, would enshrine Roe v. Wade in state law but also expand access in New Jersey. The measure would make contraceptives free, require insurance carriers to cover abortion services, and allow advance practice nurses to perform more abortion services in the first trimester, among other changes.
It has the support of Gov. Phil Murphy, but has yet to be considered by either house of the Legislature.
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source: https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/12/same-sex-marriage-could-soon-be-enshrined-in-nj-law.html
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