ASBURY PARK, NJ MAYOR PERFORMS SSM: From the New York Times

The movement for same-sex marriages reached New Jersey yesterday when a gay couple who had been issued a marriage license by the city clerk's office were married in Asbury Park by the deputy mayor.

Though city officials said that authorizing the marriage license was permitted by New Jersey law, state officials quickly disagreed, and the state's attorney general said he would seek an injunction this week to bar such actions.

"We think that what the official in Asbury Park is doing is issuing invalid documents," Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said, adding that the license was "a worthless piece of paper."

Mayors and clergy members in New York have conducted marriage ceremonies for dozens of same-sex couples in the past two weeks, but all took place without the customary marriage licenses, and will probably face court challenges.

In Asbury Park, however, the city's deputy clerk, Dawn Tomek, said yesterday that she had studied state law before she issued the license and believed that no stature was violated. New Jersey's law, she said, does not specifically ban or permit same-sex marriages.

"I went by the Constitutions of the United States and of New Jersey, both of which guarantee equal rights," Ms. Tomek said after she joined a celebration for the couple at a local pub.

During the day, she said, she issued marriage licenses to six other couples, all male.

Lawyers said it was not clear whether the deputy mayor in Asbury Park would face prosecution for performing a marriage without a valid license. But Mr. Harvey said that his office did not intend to prosecute anyone.

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posted by Eve at 5:00 PM | link

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