Legal Documents

GSE vs Dow, Superior Court Of New Jersey
Filed June 29, 2011
Initial complaint

LINK TO ORIGINAL: at LambdaLegal
Link to Searchable PDF: at my dropbox
~11500 words total.

Superior Court Of New Jersey Law Division: Mercer County
Docket No. __________
Civil Action

RECEIVED JUN 29 2011
Mercer County Superior Court
CIVIL CASE MANAGEMENT

COMPLAINT for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief

GARDEN STATE EQUALITY; ( et al )

Plaintiffs,
- vs -

PAULA DOW, in her official capacity as Attorney General of New Jersey; ( et al )

Defendants.

INTRODUCTION

1. Plaintiffs, Garden State Equality ("GSE"), which is the state's largest organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") rights; and committed same-sex couples and their minor children ( named herein ) seek a declaration that their exclusion from the institution of civil marriage violates Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution of 1947 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and that for those couples who are legally married in another jurisdiction, it is unconstitutional for the Defendants to deny recognition of marriages validly entered in other jurisdictions by same-sex couples. Plaintiffs also seek an injunction preventing the Defendants from denying them access to civil marriage, and from maintaining the separate and unequal legal status of "civil union" solely for same-sex couples, and for those same-sex couples who are legally married in another jurisdiction, enjoining the Defendants from denying recognition of those marriages.

( Introduction continued: )

( Parties )

( Venue )

( Statement of Facts )
( Claims for Relief )
( Prayer for Relief )

( Certificate of No Other Actions )
( Designation of Trial Counsel )