Asbury same-sex couple to be one of first to wed in state
Quinn and Jensen will remarry after the stroke of midnight
Councilwoman Amy Quinn [above, at left] and spouse Heather Jensen [center] are set to be remarried one minute after midnight on the Asbury Park boardwalk Monday, according to a news release from New Jersey United for Marriage.
Quinn and Jensen will be one of the first three same-sex couples to exchange vows in New Jersey. They join Jenelle and Lydia Torres of Newark, and Beth Asare and Joanne Schailey of Lambertville, the release stated.
“It’s really important for us to get married in our home state, in our home town, at this historic moment in Asbury Park,” Quinn said.
The couple were married in New York for their ten year anniversary in June. They applied for a New Jersey marriage license Friday. Because they are legally wed and have applied to remarry, they are not required to wait the full 72-hours between first applying for a marriage license and receiving the license, confirmed Deputy City Clerk Kiki Tomek.
“When I spoke to Amy this morning, I almost cried,” Tomek said. “It’s about time. I just get emotional but really I’m excited. I’ll be there and I’m glad it will be dark so no one can see me crying.”
The state does allow for a waiver of the 72-hour wait period, but only by court order entered by a Superior Court judge, City Attorney Frederick Raffetto previously informed the Sun.
Quinn and Jensen met in 2003. Jensen was a singer in a punk rock band that was playing at a gay festival Quinn attended. After Jensen finished performing her set, Quinn walked over to congratulate her.
“She came up afterwards to say ‘good job’ and I was like, ‘holy moly—that’s one foxy lady’,” Jensen said. “I was very charming. The rest is history.”
Quinn had been living in Asbury at the time. Jensen moved up from Washington, D.C., shortly after. Both have been living together in Asbury Park for ten years. Quinn currently works as an attorney for the Community Law Health Project, while Jensen is the director of online marketing and web services at the John C. Conover real estate office in Asbury Park.
Tom Pivinski, an Asbury Park resident and an Episcopalian minister at Trinity Church in the city — who has also applied for a marriage license with his partner Malcolm Navias Friday at city hall — will preside over the ceremony to be held on the boardwalk near Fifth Avenue.
“This is a really historic moment and I’m so proud of the town, and in particular, Kiki with the support and advice of [City Manager] Terry [Reidy] and Fred, and all the other people who came together to make this happen,” Jensen said.
“I think it’s beautiful,” said Reidy. “I know Amy and Heather and I know they were married in New York and are taking the opportunity to renew their vows and I think it is a beautiful thing.”
After the Supreme Court awarded federal benefits and rights when it struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in June, LGBT civil rights nonprofit Lambda Legal teamed up with Garden State Equality to file a lawsuit that argued barring same-sex couples from the same rights afforded to opposite-sex couples was unconstitutional, according to the Lambda Legal website.
The group launched their NJ United for Marriage campaign on the Asbury Park boardwalk in July.
Judge Mary Jacobson ruled on the case in September, which granted relief to the plaintiffs and gave all them the right to marry starting Oct. 21, setting a precedent for same-sex couples state-wide. Two Asbury Park residents were the lead plaintiffs in the case.
Asbury Park was one of very few municipalities in the state to start taking license applications Friday so that couples could be legally married starting Monday morning after the 72-hour required waiting period expired. Whether Deputy Clerk Kiki Tomek would be able to issue the actual licenses was in doubt until Friday afternoon, when Governor Chris Christie’s motion to have the state Supreme Court stay Judge Mary Jacobson’s ruling was denied.
“Asbury Park was on the forefront of marriage in 2004, when Deputy Mayor Jimmy Bruno performed one of the first gay-marriage ceremonies in Asbury Park,” Quinn said. “Almost ten years later, we are at the forefront of marriage equality again.”
The action by Bruno in 2004 was invalidated shortly thereafter when the state went to court to stop the issuance of licenses to same-sex couples.
[Photo at top: Amy Quinn is sworn in as a councilwoman by Municipal Court Judge Daniel DiBenedetto on July 1 as spouse Heather Jensen holds Bible.]
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