Nearly 4,000 same-sex couples marry in N.J. in first year of marriage equality

NEWARK, N.J. -- Nearly 4,000 marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in New Jersey since the state Supreme Court cleared the way for gay marriages one year ago. Monmouth County has issued the most same-sex marriage licenses with about 406. That was followed by Essex and Camden counties.

By Associated Press Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Mel Evans, APNewark Mayor and Senator-elect Cory Booker, right, shares a laugh as he officiates the first same-sex marriage for Joesph Panessidi, center right, 65, and Orville Bell, 65, in Newark City hall just after midnight Monday, Oct. 21, 2013. — Mel Evans, AP
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (then mayor of Newark, N.J.), right, shares a laugh as he officiates the first same-sex marriage for Joesph Panessidi, center right, 65, and Orville Bell, 65, in Newark City hall just after midnight Monday, Oct. 21, 2013.

NEWARK, N.J. — Nearly 4,000 marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in New Jersey since the state Supreme Court cleared the way for gay marriages one year ago.

Monmouth County has issued the most same-sex marriage licenses with about 406. That was followed by Essex and Camden counties.

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The total number does not include licenses of couples who married outside of the state before the ruling.

The state’s highest court last October refused to grant a stay that would have delayed implementation of a lower-court ruling that the state must recognize gay marriages. The weddings began three days later.

The state chapter of the American Civil Liberty Union (http://bit.ly/1wsr0sl ) has released an interactive digital map which shows where the marriages have taken place.