Jan 13 (Reuters) - Advocates of same-sex marriage won a victory in New Jersey with a ruling that a religious organization violated state law when it prevented a same-sex couple from using its boardwalk pavilion for a civil union ceremony.
The couple, Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster, believed it was discrimination and filed a complaint against the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which refused in 2007 to allow them to use its open-air seating area that faces the Atlantic Ocean, according to the decision on Thursday by Administrative Law Judge Solomon Metzger.
In the ruling, the judge said the organization violated its promise to keep the property open to public use in exchange for a tax exemption under the state's Green Acres program that promotes and protects a system of interconnected open spaces
In other words, when you make a promise to let an area be used by the public, you don't get to pick and choose who gets to come in. Gay couples are people too, and finally the courts are starting to enforce that. If they had been here in Missouri, this could have ended entirely differently.
Seriously, good news. The article is pretty cool, and the couple were very polite and courteous in their wish to have a great location for a wedding that was not meant to offend anyone, particularly those who were not invited.
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