“A New Jersey judge ruled on Friday [Sep. 27, 2013] that the state must allow same-sex couples to marry, finding that failing to do so deprives them of rights that are now guaranteed by the federal government following a ruling by the Supreme Court in June.
It is the first time a court has struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage as a direct result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, and it comes as Gov. Chris Christie continues to oppose allowing gay marriage in the state. Mr. Christies’s office said it would appeal but declined to say whether it would also seek to prevent same-sex weddings from beginning on Oct. 21, as the judge ordered.
‘The ineligibility of same-sex couples for federal benefits is currently harming same-sex couples in New Jersey in a wide range of contexts,’ wrote the judge, Mary C. Jacobson of State Superior Court in Mercer County. ‘Same-sex couples must be allowed to marry in order to obtain equal protection of the law under the New Jersey Constitution.’…
In June, the Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA. The court’s 5-to-4 decision meant that the federal government must provide the same benefits to gay couples as to heterosexual couples.”