NH, DC vow I do; NJ: Un un

by Rex Wockner

Gays marry in NH at stroke of midnight

Five states down, 45 and D.C. to go.

Gays started marrying in New Hampshire on Jan. 1 at the stroke of midnight.

About a dozen couples tied the knot in the cold weather outside the Statehouse. Others got hitched shortly after midnight in church ceremonies.

Gay couples who previously were united under New Hampshire’s civil-union law will see their unions automatically convert into marriages in 2011 unless they take action themselves before then.

The passage of the marriage law included a timed repeal of the civil-union law.

There is no residency requirement for marriage in New Hampshire, but there is a 1979 law that states, “No marriage shall be contracted in this state by a party residing and intending to continue to reside in another jurisdiction if such marriage would be void if contracted in such other jurisdiction, and every marriage contracted in this state in violation hereof shall be null and void.”

No such restriction exists in the other U.S. states where same-sex marriage is legal: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa and Vermont.

Same-sex marriage also will become legal in the District of Columbia soon. On Dec. 18, Mayor Adrian Fenty signed a bill that had passed the D.C. Council 11-2. His signature sent the measure to Congress for a review period of 30 “legislative” days. Congress is not expected to block the law’s taking effect.

Gay couples should be able to begin marrying in D.C. once the review period’s 30 “legislative” days pass.

“As a D.C. resident, I am personally proud of the council for standing so strongly for fairness and affirming the common humanity that bonds each of us,” said National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey.

“It’s a huge victory,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “[It] means a great deal coming after marriage equality losses in New York and Maine.”

Solmonese said it will be important to remain “vigilant” even after the weddings begin in D.C.

“The U.S. Congress can choose to intervene and overturn the law at any time—a loophole the radical right is bound to try to exploit,” he said.

In addition, anti-gay activists are in Superior Court battling a decision by the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics not to give residents an opportunity to veto the law at the ballot box.

At present, D.C. grants full recognition to same-sex marriages that took place elsewhere.

Same-sex marriage used to be legal in California but voters amended the state constitution to re-ban it in November 2008. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Maine in 2009 but voters then “vetoed” the governor’s signature on the law before it took effect.

 

Gay weddings start March 5 in DC

Gay marriages will start in the District of Columbia, the latest locality to legalize same-sex marriage, on March 5.

That’s when the bill passed by the Council and signed by the mayor will have completed its mandated congressional review period and any couples who obtained a license on the first day possible, March 2, will have made it through the mandatory three-day waiting period between getting a license and getting married.

Same-sex marriage is legal in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

 

NJ Senate rejects same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is on a losing streak. The latest failure: New Jersey’s Senate, which voted 20-14 on Jan. 7 against letting gay couples marry. They already can enter official state civil unions.

Following the vote, Lambda Legal announced a lawsuit aimed at securing same-sex marriage in the state.

“The requirement to ensure equality for same-sex couples, established by the New Jersey Supreme Court in its decision in our marriage lawsuit in 2006, has not been met,” said Executive Director Kevin Cathcart. “There is enormous, heartbreaking evidence that civil unions are not equal to marriage, and we will be going back to the courts in New Jersey to fight for equality.”

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2006 that it is unconstitutional to give same-sex couples lesser rights than opposite-sex couples, but left the remedy up to the Legislature. In December 2008, the Legislature’s Civil Union Review Commission concluded that New Jersey civil unions fall short of the equality the court mandated for same-sex couples.