Gov. Chris Christie
A New Jersey judge ruled Friday that same-sex couple must be allowed to marry in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling.
The original ruling that paved the way for civil unions in New Jersey specified that if the Legislature didn’t pass marriage equality, civil unions had to be equal.
They never were.
The Legislature set up a commission to follow the law and more than half of the first thousand couples to get a civil union in the state filed complaints of discrimination. UPS announced soon after the civil union law passed that it would not include those couples in its healthcare coverage because it only covers married spouses.
And since the Supreme Court ruled in June, federal benefits go only to married couples, not those in civil unions or domestic partnerships or any other made-up relationship states create.
It’s unclear whether the state will appeal. The Legislature passed marriage equality last year, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed it.
