The California Supreme Court has just ruled in favor of marriage equality for same-sex couples, a decision with huge national impact!

Statement of Garden State Equality chair Steven Goldstein, on the decision's impact on other states, including New Jersey:

"Today the California Supreme Court produced an earthquake for equality. From the Redwood Forest to the Gulfstream Waters to our own Jersey Shore, millions of Americans now rise in jubilation over today’s historic advancement for freedom.

California is so big and so impactful on the rest of the nation, what happens in California won’t stay in California, and that’s great for equality. The California decision will have a particular impact on New Jersey, where we are closer than ever to becoming the first state in American history to enact marriage equality through legislation.

Today, California becomes America’s freeway to equality. Next, New Jersey will be America’s turnpike to equality. So full speed ahead! Our dream is in sight.

All of us at Garden State Equality salute our incredible colleagues at Equality California and at the legal organizations which made today's historic decision possible: The National Center for Lesbian Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, Heller Ehrman and the Law Office of David C. Codell."

Since Garden State Equality’s founding in 2004, New Jersey has enacted 200 LGBT civil rights laws at the state, county and local levels – more LGBT civil rights laws enacted in less time than in any other U.S. state, ever. Visit Garden State Equality's two websites at www.GardenStateEquality.org and www.CivilUnionsDontWork.com