Gay families sue New Jersey to seek marriage equality

Seven gay and lesbian New Jersey couples, along with their children, are going to court in an attempt to force the state to recognize marriage equality. The legal complaint says that the state’s civil union law designed to give gay couples the same legal protections as married couples has not fulfilled that promise.

One man saw his partner and children’s health insurance canceled by a skeptical auditor. One woman had to jump through legal hoops to adopt the baby of her civil union.

The families will be helped by advocacy groups Garden State Equality and Lambda Legal, and it’s the latest step in a nine-year legal battle in New Jersey. “The separate and inherently unequal statutory scheme singles out lesbians and gay men for inferior treatment on the basis of their sexual orientation and sex and also has a profoundly stigmatizing effect on them, their children and other lesbian and gay New Jerseyans,” the claim says.

[via San Antonio Express-News]