Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Banner Left
Banner Right

New Jersey Court backs gay marriages

New Jersey Court backs gay marriages

TRENTON – The gay marriage issue in the state of New Jersey is moving from a legal dispute to a political one.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that New Jersey must extend all the rights of marriage to gay couples. But the justices left it to state lawmakers to decide whether to provide those rights in the form of marriages, civil unions or something else – and gave the Legislature 180 days to reach a decision.Three justices, including Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, dissented, arguing that the four-member majority did not go far enough.They demanded gay couples be given the right to marry.Several Democratic lawmakers said they would push for full marriage rights.But some Republicans, the minority party in both houses of the Legislature, said they would seek a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.Republican Assemblyman Richard Merkt vowed to have the justices impeached.”Neither the framers of New Jersey’s 1947 constitution, nor the voters who ratified it, ever remotely contemplated the possibility of same-sex marriage,” Merkt said.State Senate President Richard J Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr pledged in a joint statement to block an anti-gay marriage amendment.They also complained that the court-imposed deadline allows too little time to define the type of union that would be granted to gay couples.The New Jersey Supreme Court ruling is similar to the 1999 high-court ruling in Vermont that led that state to create civil unions, which confer all the rights and benefits available to married couples under state law.National gay rights advocates embraced the ruling.Lara Schwartz, legal director of Human Rights Campaign, said if legislators have to choose between civil unions and marriage, it is a no-lose situation for gay couples.Nampa-APBut the justices left it to state lawmakers to decide whether to provide those rights in the form of marriages, civil unions or something else – and gave the Legislature 180 days to reach a decision.Three justices, including Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, dissented, arguing that the four-member majority did not go far enough.They demanded gay couples be given the right to marry.Several Democratic lawmakers said they would push for full marriage rights.But some Republicans, the minority party in both houses of the Legislature, said they would seek a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.Republican Assemblyman Richard Merkt vowed to have the justices impeached.”Neither the framers of New Jersey’s 1947 constitution, nor the voters who ratified it, ever remotely contemplated the possibility of same-sex marriage,” Merkt said.State Senate President Richard J Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr pledged in a joint statement to block an anti-gay marriage amendment.They also complained that the court-imposed deadline allows too little time to define the type of union that would be granted to gay couples.The New Jersey Supreme Court ruling is similar to the 1999 high-court ruling in Vermont that led that state to create civil unions, which confer all the rights and benefits available to married couples under state law.National gay rights advocates embraced the ruling.Lara Schwartz, legal director of Human Rights Campaign, said if legislators have to choose between civil unions and marriage, it is a no-lose situation for gay couples.Nampa-AP

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News