Garden State Equality v. Dow, L-1729-11; Law Division, Mercer County; opinion by Jacobson, A.J.S.C.; decided September 27, 2013; approved for publication November 22, 2013. DDS No. 10-3-2041 [76 pp.]
Plaintiffs Garden State Equality, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organization, and six same-sex couples and their children, move for summary judgment in this action seeking a declaratory judgment that the exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage denies them equal protection under Article I, Paragraph 1 of the N.J. Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. They seek a ruling as a matter of constitutional law, following United States v. Windsor, 186 L.Ed.2d 808 (2013), which struck down § 3 the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 1 U.S.C.A. § 7, and held that the federal government must extend federal marital benefits to same-sex couples who are lawfully married in states that have granted them the right to civil marriage.
