Marriage News Watch, 10/21/13

It's now a done deal - New Jersey is a marriage-equality state from here on out, 14th in the nation (plus D. C.). Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:



Via Joe.My.God., Governor Christie's announcement that he has dropped his appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court:

Gov. Chris Christie on Monday morning advised the Attorney General to submit a formal letter to the high court announcing its intent to cease the fight. “Chief Justice Stuart Rabner left no ambiguity about the unanimous court's view on the ultimate decision in this matter when he wrote, ‘same-sex couples who cannot marry are not treated equally under the law today,’" the administration stated. “Although the Governor strongly disagrees with the Court substituting its judgment for the constitutional process of the elected branches or a vote of the people, the Court has now spoken clearly as to their view of the New Jersey Constitution and, therefore, same-sex marriage is the law. The Governor will do his constitutional duty and ensure his Administration enforces the law as dictated by the New Jersey Supreme Court.”

The New York Times also covers the story.

Freedom to Marry has summaries of the marriage litigation and legislation now pending in 20 states. According to their website, updated today:

Five states now offer broad protections short of marriage. CO, HI, and IL allow civil union, while OR and NV offer broad domestic partnership. WI has more limited domestic partnership.

With these advances, a record number of Americans live in states that recognize relationships between same-sex couples:

• Over 35% of the U.S. population [over 100 million people] lives in a state that either has the freedom to marry or honors out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples.
• Over 41% of the U.S. population lives in a state with either marriage or a broad legal status such as civil union or domestic partnership.
• Over 43% of the U.S. population lives in a state that provides some form of protections for gay couples.

And here's FtM's newly updated marriage map of the country:

Click to enlarge.