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Lambda Legal Celebrates First Day Marriage in New Jersey

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"Tonight, tomorrow and all week long, wedding bells will ring across New Jersey – and in our hearts, we will know that love and joy are being celebrated by same-sex couples who now share equality and freedom."
October 20, 2013

(New York, October 20, 2013) - In celebration of the first day same-sex couples can wed in New Jersey, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal Director at Lambda Legal and lead attorney in the New Jersey marriage case:

"Tonight, tomorrow and all week long, wedding bells will ring across New Jersey – and in our hearts, we will know that love and joy are being celebrated by same-sex couples who now share equality and freedom. Lambda Legal and many of the couples with us tonight started this journey 11 years ago when we filed our first case – and we never lost faith that this day would come.

"When state officials said we won’t allow it, Lambda Legal fought back; and when they said  - let’s wait – Lambda Legal said, ‘same-sex couples cannot wait another day!’

"Your love deserves all of that, sheltering protection, care, and respect, and honor equal to any and all others.  No more and, from this moment forward, no less.  This moment is one of the most beautiful I have had the privilege of at Lambda Legal.  It is a privilege to work these years and ongoing for Garden State Equality, for lesbian and gay couples of New Jersey.  For your families.

"And it is especially gratifying to be here, at the invitation of Mayor and newly elected Senator Booker, a public official committed so deeply to the equality of your love that he is solemnizing your marriages at this first moment possible in the great state of New Jersey.  I know that with everyone in this room it is a moment we will always cherish.

"We thank our co-counsel, Larry Lustberg and the Gibbons firm, and we thank all our partners in New Jersey United for Marriage. We thank our plaintiffs, and we thank all of you who have fought so hard for this victory.

"So, here we are New Jersey – the time has come. Let the wedding bells ring and let love and fairness fill our hearts."

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Contact Info

Lisa Hardaway 973-902-9298; lhardaway@lambdalegal.org

Jonathan Adams 646-752-3251; jadams@lambdalegal.org

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