The Division on Civil Rights (DCR) under the guidance of Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, announced the resolution of its inaugural enforcement actions as part of the Marriage Equality Enforcement Initiative.
This initiative aims to ensure non-discrimination by municipal governments towards LGBTQIA+ individuals applying for marriage licenses.
The enforcement actions were against five municipalities—Estell Manor, Fairview, Hanover, Linden, and South Toms River—for previously displaying marriage license information on their websites that was restrictive to opposite-gender couples, excluding nonbinary gender identity applicants.
This was in violation of the Law Against Discrimination (LAD), which forbids public accommodation places from discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression.
Attorney General Platkin emphasized that marriage equality is a fundamental right and law in New Jersey, and the initiative demonstrates a strong commitment to upholding this law by municipal governments. DCR Director Sundeep Iyer echoed this sentiment, stating that no government in New Jersey should hinder the basic promise of equality, and these resolutions reflect a continuous commitment to marriage equality for LGBTQIA+ residents.
The resolutions required the municipalities to adopt and verify written policies against discrimination, remove gender-restrictive language from their websites, update their websites to clearly state the availability of marriage licenses to all qualifying applicants regardless of gender, make a payment to DCR, and train all employees involved in website language creation and license issuance on the LAD requirements.
While four municipalities resolved the matter through Assurances of Voluntary Compliance, Hanover Township settled through a Negotiated Settlement Agreement after an administrative complaint was filed due to its initial unwillingness to resolve the issue before litigation. Nonetheless, the terms of resolution with Hanover Township mirrored those with the other four municipalities.
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