ACLU-NJ Statement on Assembly's Passage of Freedom to Marry Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

The following is a statement of ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs upon the New Jersey legislature’s passage of a bill on Feb. 16, 2012, to give same-sex couples the freedom to marry:

Today New Jersey took an important move towards equality. Now we must embark on the work of winning support to override the governor’s promised veto.

Trenton’s two-year evolution from just missing the opportunity to give couples the freedom to marry to enthusiastically sending it to the governor’s desk this week has been remarkable, but we are far from achieving our ultimate goal: getting the bill signed into law. Even if it takes until the end of this legislative session, we have faith that enough legislators will recognize a piece of themselves in the stories of gay and lesbian couples who simply want the chance to fulfill their lives together without their love declared “second-class.”