Judge allows N.J. suit seeking recognition of gay marriage to proceed

A New Jersey judge says the lawsuit seeking to have the state recognize gay marriage can go forward.

Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg Friday rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. She said gay couples have the right to argue the state’s civil union law does not give them the same rights and protections as married couples.

Asbury Park resident Daniel Weiss, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said he hopes the legal action can end a failed and “cruel experiment.”

“Hopefully, no other people will have to endure what my partner, John, and I have had to endure as a result of being called something much less than marriage,” Weiss said.

The state’s civil union law is confusing and unfair, said Hayley Gorenberg, an attorney with Lambda Legal who is representing gay couples.

“It confuses people in everything from urgent medical settings in medical crises to school and dental offices to the workplace. In so many facets of people’s lives, the inequality expresses itself and they’re suffering with it every day,” Gorenberg said. “And that’s what we’re here to change.”

The case will now have to work its way through the courts.