Tag: marriage equality

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New Jersey readies for wedding business boom thanks to marriage equality

Even though it was just this past Friday that the NJ Supreme Court refused to stop marriage equality from beginning on Monday morning, many businesses are already seeing calls and orders for wedding services.

In fact, some economists are predicting a surge of as much as $94 million over the next three years could flood into the New Jersey economy thanks to marriage equality.

Luigi Ficarra, a Maplewood caterer, has already received over a dozen calls to handle same-sex weddings over the next few weeks.

More from NJ.com:

Barry Herman, owner of Barry Herman Entertainment in Livingston, a company that books wedding bands and DJs, said his company has received five calls from same-sex couples.

“There’s always been a market for commitment parties, but now it may become a bigger market since it is different than a commitment party. It’s a wedding,” said Herman.

North Bergen wedding photographer Leslie Barbaro is also anticipating a boom in business. “I got a bump when gay marriage was legalized in Delaware,” she said. “Over the past two years I’ve photographed some very emotional same-sex weddings in Delaware and New York and I’m looking forward to being able to do the same in my home state.”

And many businesses are promoting the fact that they’ve always been happy to serve their customers, whether gay or straight. Check out this bakery in the video below already looking forward to contributing to same-sex weddings.

Congrats New Jersey!

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Rick Santorum: Marriage equality will be “the destruction of our republic”

Former US Senator Rick Santorum

Legalizing same-sex marriage will be “the destruction of our republic,” and Will & Grace started us down this path, says former U.S. senator and evergreen presidential hopeful, Rick Santorum.

Santorum made the remarks at the recent Midwest Republican Leadership Conference in Kansas City, Mo. He said that even with the sexual revolution of the 1960s, no one considered expanding the definition of marriage beyond male-female unions until Will & Grace came along with its sympathetic portrayals of gay men and their straight female friends. (Actually, same-sex couples have been seeking marriage rights since at least the 1970s, long before the sitcom’s premiere in 1998.)

He said young people are reluctant to speak out against marriage equality because they “have been beaten up” by those who consider such resistance an act of hate. He also predicted that Christian opposition to marriage equality will soon be suppressed as hate speech. “I don’t think the Supreme Court is going to tolerate and give tax-exempt status to haters,” he said.

While some are calling on Republicans to embrace marriage equality, Santorum said, “For the Republican Party to even contemplate going along with this is the destruction of our republic.” Watch video of his comments below, courtesy of Right Wing Watch.

(from Advocate)

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New Jersey: Stay denied! Marriage equality WILL begin Monday

Oh, yeah!  Happy dance time!
From Lambda Legal: Today the New Jersey Supreme Court, agreeing with the lower court’s Sept. 27th ruling, denied the State’s motion to postpone allowing same-sex couples to marry. Lambda Legal had filed a brief on behalf of Garden State Equality, New Jersey’s statewide LGBT advocacy organization, and six same-sex couples who seek the freedom to marry, asking the Court to deny the motion for a stay.
In today’s decision, the Court wrote:
What is the public’s interest in a case like this? Like Judge Jacobson, we can find no public interest in depriving a group of New Jersey residents of their constitutional right to equal protection while the appeals process unfolds.

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Nevada: Lambda Legal takes marriage equality appeal to Ninth Circuit Appeals Court

MY home state!

Today Lambda Legal filed its opening brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case on behalf of eight same-sex couples challenging the amendment to Nevada’s constitution and other state laws banning marriage for same-sex couples. “The world has changed dramatically since we filed this lawsuit over a year ago,” said Tara Borelli, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Western Regional Office. “After the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling striking down Section 3 of DOMA, Nevada’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples has become exponentially more harmful to same-sex couples who are barred from a sweeping array of federal benefits as well.”

The brief argues: “As the arbiter of which couples may be married in the State, Nevada thus holds the key to access for the sweeping array of spousal rights and responsibilities available under federal law, and keeps them locked away from same-sex couples under the marriage ban. By foreclosing same-sex couples from marriage, Nevada inflicts virtually the same collection of federal harms and deprivations on unmarried same-sex couples as DOMA previously did, since nearly all federal benefits are unavailable to unmarried couples, regardless of whether they are registered domestic partners.”

(via press release)

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Oregon to recognize out of state same-sex marriages

According to Williamette Week, Oregon will now recognize legal same-sex marriages from out of state:

In a memo sent to all state agencies today, state Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan says any gay couple who wed in a state where same-sex marriage is legal will now be eligible for the same benefits as any other married couple.

“Oregon agencies must recognize all out-of-state marriages for the purposes of administering state programs,” Jordan writes. “That includes legal, same sex marriages performed in other states and countries.”

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Michigan: Federal judge to hear marriage equality ban challenge

From NBC:

A federal judge said Wednesday that a lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple seeking the right to wed in Michigan will go to trial early next year in a long-awaited legal challenge to the state’s same-sex marriage ban.

U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman said the trial will begin Feb. 25. He said he wanted to hear if experts believed the state had a legitimate interest in prohibiting same-sex marriage, according to NBC affiliate, WDIV-Detroit.

At least 11 county clerks offices had been poised to issue licenses to gay couples if Friedman had ruled in favor of overturning the same-sex marriage ban, according to LGBT advocacy group Equality Michigan.

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New Jersey: 61% want Gov. Christie to stop blocking marriage equality

From MSNBC:

A majority of voters in New Jersey want current Gov. Chris Christie to drop his appeal of a state judge’s ruling that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry, a new poll found.

Sixty-one percent of the state’s residents oppose the governor’s wish to block marriage equality, and 32% agree with him, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. Opposition to the appeal is 79% among Democrats and 42% among Christie’s fellow Republicans.

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North Carolina: Same-sex couples line up to file marriage license applications

Last night, North Carolina Buncombe County Register of Wills Drew Reisinger’s announced he would accept BUT not sign marriage applications from same-sex couples.

And so, the line began to form early today.  From the AP:

An official in western North Carolina has accepted marriage license requests from 10 same-sex couples, despite a 2012 amendment to the state constitution forbidding such marriages.

Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger said he will hold the licenses and ask state Attorney General Roy Cooper for legal advice. Reisinger said he thinks the state’s ban is unconstitutional.

Cooper said Monday that he supports gay marriage. But he has said he’ll defend the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage. A spokeswoman for Cooper’s office said the marriage licenses cannot be issued.

The state Attorney General has expressed his support for marriage equality but has stated he will defend the state constitutional ban until overturned by the courts or the people.

Watch the video below, which will make you beam as Carol McCrory and Brenda Clark, a couple for 25 years, apply for their marriage license and Drew Reisinger becomes a hero.