TRENTON - New Jersey's highest court yesterday guaranteed gay couples the same rights as married heterosexuals but left it up to state politicians to decide if such unions can be called marriage.
"Times and attitudes have changed," the New Jersey Supreme Court said in a nuanced 90-page ruling that iscertain to fuel America's culture wars ahead of November 7 mid-term elections, when eight states will vote on same-sex marriage laws.
Advocates on both sides declared varying degrees of victory and disappointment on the latest twist in a battle that has divided the country over issues of gay culture and morality.
Same-sex marriage has faced legal and political roadblocks in much of the United States and has been a hot-button issue since 2003, when Massachusetts' highest court ruled it was unconstitutional to ban gay marriage, paving the way for America's first same-sex marriages in May 2004.
Some New Jersey gay activists pledged to stop at nothing short of full marriage rights, while opponents took heart that the court chose to give the legislature a role in deciding the issue.
"We now hold that ... committed same-sex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by married, opposite-sex couples," the court said in a 4-3 ruling.
Gay advocates must now "appeal to their fellow citizens whose voices are heard through their popularly elected representatives", the court said.
It gave the legislature six months to either amend the state's marriage statutes to include gay people, or write a new law in which same-sex couples "would enjoy the rights of civil marriage".
