Levine Preparing to Officiate First Same-Sex Marriage

Mayor Brian Levine

Mayor Brian Levine said Oct. 19 that he’s already been asked by a same-sex couple to perform their marriage.

The wedding will occur next week at the municipal building, he said.

“I was approached by a same-sex couple for the 24th, which is probably the first day you can do it after the three-day waiting period,” he said.

The state Supreme Court on Oct. 18 refused a request by Gov. Chris Christie to stay any same-sex marriages until a court challenge to Christie’s veto of a bill allowing the unions is heard next year. That means that theoretically, same-sex couples could begin getting married at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 20.

But the state also has a 72-hour “cooling off” period after a marriage application has been filed. A state Superior Court judge could waive that, however.

Levine’s public support for gay marriage has been tepid; at a September debate with state Sen. Bob Smith, D-17th – Levine’s opponent in that race – Levine said he believed the state’s civil union law was adequate.

Same-sex marriage advocates argue that there are a host of marriage benefits and rights not accorded to those in a civil union

“I’m a live-and-let-live kind of person,” Levine said. “Frankly. I guess I never thought about it a lot.”

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