New Jersey court recognizes same-sex unions

POSTED: 3:31 p.m. EDT, October 25, 2006

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that same-sex couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples.

But the court left it to the legislature to determine whether the state will honor gay marriage or some other form of civil union.

The case was brought by seven gay couples who say the state constitution allows them to marry.

New Jersey is one of only five U.S. states with neither a law nor a state constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage. As a result, the state is more likely than others to allow gays to wed, said advocacy groups on both sides.

Only Massachusetts -- by virtue of a 2003 ruling from that state's top court -- allows gay marriages.

Proponents and opponents from across the country are watching the case closely.

"New Jersey is a stepping stone," said Matt Daniels, president of the Virginia-based Alliance for Marriage, a group pushing for an amendment to the federal Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage. "It's not about New Jersey."

From a practical standpoint, the Massachusetts court decision made little impact nationally because the state has a law barring out-of-state couples from wedding there if their marriages would not be recognized in their home states.

New Jersey has no such law.

People on both sides of the issue expect a victory for same-sex unions would make New Jersey a destination for gay couples from around the country who want to get married. Some of those couples could return home and sue to have their marriages recognized.

Daniels said gay-rights advocates are already looking ahead to such lawsuits. "Their game, of course, is they figure all they need to do is execute this maneuver in a half-dozen states and they'll have the momentum," he said.

David S. Buckel, the Lambda Legal lawyer who argued on behalf of the seven New Jersey couples, said he expects some couples would travel to the New Jersey to get married if his suit is successful. But, he said, "it won't be tidal."

Buckel said that there have been relatively few such lawsuits filed in the U.S. by couples who went to Canada to exchange vows.

And, he said, while many same-sex couples would prefer to be married, they are getting more legal protections for their relationships. Several states, including New Jersey, offer domestic partnerships or civil unions with some of the benefits of marriage. A growing number of employers are treating same-sex couples the same way they treat married couples.

Cases similar to New Jersey's are pending in California, Connecticut, Iowa and Maryland.

Conservatives watching the cases believe the best chance for gay marriage to be allowed would be in New Jersey, where the state Supreme Court has a history of extending civil rights protections.

Gay marriage supporters have had a two-year losing streak, striking out in state courts in New York and Washington state and in ballot boxes in 15 states where constitutions have been amended to ban same-sex unions.

Robert Cole, 37, spent three days on the run from police in January after slipping his 56-kilogram (123-pound) frame through a 15-centimeter (6-inch) wide hole he had chiseled with a butter knife in the widow frame of a hospital wing at Sydney's Long Bay Jail.

Cole, who had been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, spent three weeks scraping the brickwork near the window bars to widen the space, the New South Wales state District Court Judge Roger Dive said.

Dive sentenced Cole Friday two years and two months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to a charge of escape. The sentence was backdated to his recapture on January 21.

When he escaped, Cole had been serving an indefinite sentence in the prison hospital after a jury found him not guilty of armed robbery in 2003 on the grounds of mental illness.

Dive accepted Cole was "very frustrated" at the time of his escape, as "he did not have a definite date of release and no apparent treatment plan."

Cole's sister, Australian television actress Denise Roberts, told the court her brother had "put on a lot of weight" since he was recaptured and sent to a different prison.

After serving his sentence, Cole will remain in the prison hospital until government authorities decide he is no longer a public danger.

First Snow of Season Hits Western New York, Leaves 155,000 Without Electricity

Friday , October 13, 2006

National Coming Out Day is observed on October 11 by members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities and their allies.

The day commemorates October 11, 1987, when 500,000 people marched on Washington, USA, for gay and lesbian equality. National Coming Out Day events are aimed at raising awareness of the LGBT community among the general populace in an effort to give a familiar face to the LGBT rights movement.

In the United States, the Human Rights Campaign manages the event under the National Coming Out Project offering resources to LGBT couples, parents and their children as well as straight friends and relatives to promote awareness of LGBT families living honest and open lives.

"There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis."