State says gays do not have constitutional right to marriage (state has gay gov)

STAR LEDGER ^ | September 04, 2004 | KATHY BARRETT CARTER

[Liz]

Same-sex couples do not have a constitutionally protected right to marry, lawyers for the state argued yesterday in court papers responding to a lawsuit brought by seven gay couples alleging the state's marriage laws are discriminatory.

If homosexuals want the right to marry, they should make their case to the Legislature, not the courts, Patrick DeAlmeida, assistant attorney general argued in a brief filed in the Appellate Division of Superior Court.

After being turned down in their quest to obtain marriage licenses in June 2002, seven gay couples filed a lawsuit alleging they are being deprived of various legal rights enjoyed by married heterosexual couples.

But in July, New Jersey implemented a law recognizing domestic partners. DeAlmeida said many of the benefits same-sex couples sought are now available. "Many of harms alleged in the initial complaint have been ameliorated with domestic partnership," said DeAlmeida.

Under the new law, same-sex couples -- and unmarried, opposite-sex couples age 62 and over -- are allowed hospital visitation, the right to make emergency medical decisions, the right to claim each other as exemptions on state income tax filings and the right to qualify for exemptions from the state inheritance tax. Advocates for gay rights say that's not enough.

"The benefits that the domestic partnership law gives, while important in themselves, cannot in any stretch of the imagination be regarded as equivalent to marriage," said Michael Blake, president of the Stonewall Democrats, a gay Democrat group. Gary Buseck, legal director at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represents the gay couples who brought the lawsuit, said he will file a reply to the state by Sept. 21 and ask the state Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and hear the case.

[Liz]

(Gary Buseck, legal director)....says Lambda has turned to the courts because the Legislature is drawing an unreasonable line in the sand. "When the Legislature draws a certain line, the courts have a job deciding whether that line is constitutional or unconstitutional," said Buseck. He says he is "cautiously optimistic that New Jersey will follow Massachusetts and come to the same conclusion as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court." It ordered the state to recognize gay marriage, making Massachusetts the only state in the nation to do so.

Yeah, cirmcunventing the democratic process is a lib fave.....that's how they got abortion legalized as well.

[concerned about politics]

Same-sex couples do not have a constitutionally protected right to marry

I heard they did. It's right there in the Constitution - next to the right to kill the innocent, the right to create a nation of tax slaves, the right to indoctrinate the kids into socialism, and the right to steal private property. You'll find them all listed between the definition of the word "is."

[Liz]

Heh.....nice take....how true.

[ScottFromSpokane]

If homosexuals want the right to marry, they should make their case to the Legislature, not the courts, Patrick DeAlmeida, assistant attorney general argued in a brief filed in the Appellate Division of Superior Court.

BIGOT!!!

[Liz]

Diversity basher.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Something has occurred to me about this gay marriage baloney.

Up until now I have been thinking that what it is really about is getting health care and other benefits for the non-working "spouse" of a gay employee.

But if that's what they wanted, they could do that by a legislative route, without redefining a bedrock social institution for the entire rest of the world.

But I have just lately realized that it is primarily about control, about forcing the rest of the world to bend to their will.

The anal obsessive/compulsive psychological drives that cause homosexuality also cause them to be control freaks.

Militant homosexuals are not content with getting the legal protections they think they deserve, they want to destroy the ones everybody else has.

Psychologically, militant homosexuals are ugly old battleaxes with bowling ball-sized chips on their collective shoulders who are filled with hate for anyone who is not like them.