TRENTON — Same-sex marriages can begin Monday in New Jersey on a provisional basis, the state Supreme Court ruled today. 
 
 The court will not make a final ruling on same-sex marriage rights until next year. But in the meantime, it upheld an order by a trial judge allowing civil marriages for gay couples to start Monday. 
 
 "The public interest does not favor a stay," the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-0 decision by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner today. "State officials shall therefore permit same-sex couples, who are otherwise eligible, to enter into civil marriage beginning on October 21, 2013." 
 
 Although the Supreme Court could change its stance later, for now, the decision is a victory for thousands of gay couples in New Jersey, who will be able to marry in-state for the first time starting next week. 
 
 SEE COMPLETE RULING BELOW 
 
 And it’s a setback for Gov. Chris Christie, an opponent of same-sex marriage who says only "one man and one woman" should be able to wed. 
 
 At a campaign event at a restaurant in Dover, Christie ignored a reporter's request for comment about the ruling. 
 
 Michael Drewniak, Christie's spokesman, later issued a brief statement. 
 
 "The Supreme Court has made its determination," Drewniak said. "While the Governor firmly believes that this determination should be made by all the people of the State of New Jersey, he has instructed the Department of Health to cooperate with all municipalities in effectuating the order of the Superior Court under the applicable law." 
 
 The court's ruling triggered a flood of statements from gay rights groups and lawmakers. Several municipalities also reported same-sex couples arriving at local clerk's offices to try to apply for licenses to get married Monday. 
 
 Several same-sex couples are already vying to be the first married in New Jersey. Louise Walpin and Marsha Shapiro of Monmouth Junction, the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to today's court ruling, plan to marry at 12:01 a.m. Monday in the home of Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), one of the sponsors of New Jersey's same-sex marriage bill. 
 
 In Lambertville, Councilwoman Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey -- the first same-sex couple to obtain a civil union in 2006 -- also plan to marry early Monday. 
 
 "We thought it wouldn't even happen in our lifetime and here it is," Asaro said. 
 
 The couple heard about today's ruling via a text message. 
 
 "We got the text and we just hugged and cried," Schailey said. 
 
 Garden State Equality, a statewide gay rights group, called on supporters to continue pushing for gay marriage. 
 
 “We have been fighting an uphill battle for the dignity of marriage for years and we are finally within sight of the summit. However, this is not the time to rest, it is the time to recommit, it is the time to pull out all the stops,” said Troy Stevenson, executive director of Garden State Equality. 
 
 Ron Carty rushed down to Asbury Park's City Hall right after he heard the state Supreme Court refused to issue a stay today. 
 
 
 
 But to his disappointment, he couldn't get an application because his partner, Jerry Biga, was not present and they didn't have a witness. 
 
 Carty and his partner have been together 20 years and had a civil union ceremony 10 years ago, but Carty said he never thought he'd see same-sex marriage in New Jersey. 
 
 "Not in my lifetime. I'm so shocked. I'm really shocked," said the 61-year-old retired postal worker. "It's just a good thing. I still can't believe it." 
 
 Asbury Park city manager Terry Reidy said the earliest the city can perform a ceremony is 9 a.m. Monday, 72 hours after the first application was taken today. In all, the city took four applications by late afternoon but the clerk's office fielded a number of phone calls from people asking about the process. 
 
 "This means discrimination against same-sex couples who are in love with each other and who want to get married is now over," Reidy said. 
 
 Opponents to gay marriage were disappointed in the state Supreme Court's ruling. 
 
 
 
 "Court after court is misinterpreting and misreading the law in order to get the result that they wish, which is to destroy the historical definition of marriage. Once you do that by a judicial fiat, no longer will you be able to limit marriage just to two people of the same gender," said John Tomicki, president of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage. 
 
 
 
 "We would still wish that the question were decided not by the court, not by the Legislature, but by a referendum," Tomicki said. 
 
 Christie went to court to challenge a lower-court ruling that legalized gay marriage in New Jersey last month, and had asked the Supreme Court to postpone the first same-sex weddings until he was finished appealing. 
 
 Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ruled Sept. 27 that same-sex couples were being denied equal rights and hundreds of federal benefits in the wake of a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in June striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. 
 
 She declined last week to issue a stay, which would have delayed the first same-sex marriages planned for Monday, saying Christie was likely to lose his appeal and that gay couples “would suffer many hardships of constitutional magnitude if the stay were to be issued, but the state has not demonstrated how it would suffer in any meaningful way.” 
 
 The judge added that California state officials were not harmed as gay marriage rights were extended, withdrawn and then extended again to their residents over the last five years. “The California experience teaches that marriage can be extended to same-sex couples in a state and then removed without dire consequences to the state,” she wrote. 
 
 Six families and the gay-rights group Garden State Equality argued that the U.S. Supreme Court had extended more than 1,000 federal tax and legal benefits to same-sex couples, but only if they were in “lawful marriages.” 
 
 New Jersey was left out because it only allowed civil unions, they said, and Jacobson agreed. 
 
 Christie argues that the Obama administration is the one infringing on gay couples’ equal rights and should be sued. Federal agencies are denying marriage benefits to civil unions even though New Jersey considers them to be equal, the Christie administration argues. The governor also says same-sex marriage should be put on the ballot in New Jersey. 
 
 The Supreme Court agreed to fast-track Christie’s appeal and has scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 6 or 7. On a parallel track, advocates are pushing state lawmakers to find the votes to override Christie’s veto of a gay marriage bill last year. The deadline before the bill expires is Jan. 14. 
 
 The state’s highest court has already ruled that same-sex couples in New Jersey must get all the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex married couples, but in that 2006 case, Lewis v. Harris, they stopped short of calling for marriage rights. The Democratic-controlled Legislature at the time set up civil unions instead. 
 
 Star-Ledger staff writers Kelly Heyboer, Susan K. Livio, MaryAnn Spoto, Adya Beasley and Jenna Portnoy contributed to this report. 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ||||| Same-sex marriages will begin within days in New Jersey after the state's highest court ruled unanimously Friday to uphold a lower-court order that gay weddings must start Monday and to deny a delay that was sought by the state popular Republican governor, Chris Christie. 
 
 A judge on the lower court had ruled last month that New Jersey must recognize same-sex marriage and set Monday as the date to allow gay weddings. Christie, a Republican who is considered a possible 2016 presidential candidate, appealed the decision and asked for the start date to be put on hold while the state Supreme Court decides the case. 
 
 "The state has advanced a number of arguments, but none of them overcome this reality: Same-sex couples who cannot marry are not treated equally under the law today," the court ruled. "The harm to them is real, not abstract or speculative." 
 
 His administration also asked that the state's top court take up the appeal of the lower-court ruling, something it agreed to do last week. Oral arguments are expected Jan. 6 or 7. 
 
 Thirteen states, including most in the Northeast, now recognize gay marriage. 
 
 Whether gay couples should have the right to marry in New Jersey has been the subject of a battle in the state's courts and Legislature over the past decade. There has been a flurry of movements in both venues since June, when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated key parts of a federal law that prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions. 
 
 Since then, gay rights advocates have asked New Jersey judges to force the state to recognize same-sex marriage, arguing that the state's current policy of granting gay couples civil unions but not marriage licenses amounts to denying those couples federal protections such as Social Security survivor benefits and the right to file tax returns jointly. 
 
 Since July, gay rights groups have also engaged in an intense campaign aimed at persuading lawmakers to override Christie's 2012 veto of a bill that would have allowed gay marriage. To get an override, the Legislature must act by Jan. 14. 
 
 Christie says he favors civil unions and says that allowing same-sex marriage is something that should be done only by a public vote, not the state's judges or lawmakers. 
 
 As Christie's appeal is considered, the state government will have to allow weddings and work quickly through some logistical issues: Does the Monday deadline apply to when marriage licenses must be issued, or when ceremonies can take place, for instance? Normally, there's a three-day waiting period in New Jersey between getting a license and tying the knot. 
 
 And are gay and lesbian couples that have wed legally elsewhere automatically considered married in New Jersey, or do they have to fill out forms and pay fees, too? 
 
 A state lawmaker had asked the state attorney general's office Thursday whether the normal 72-hour waiting period would apply for same-sex couples seeking to get married Monday if no stay was granted. Several New Jersey towns had begun accepting marriage license applications from same-sex couples in case the court didn't block the weddings from starting Monday. 
 
 After those topics are decided, another big hypothetical question looms: What happens to the status of same-sex marriages entered into now if the court decides next year that the state does not have to grant marriage to gay couples? 
 
 Despite the uncertainty, couples _ some of whom have been together for decades _ have been planning to have ceremonies as soon as they would be recognized by the state government. Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio said he's planning to lead the state's first legally recognized same-sex wedding, between Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey. DelVecchio also performed the ceremony in 2007 when the couple became among New Jersey's first to be granted a civil union. 
 
 ___ 
 
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– Not even Chris Christie could block gay couples from reaching the altar. The state Supreme Court in New Jersey ruled 7-0 today to uphold a judge's decision that gay marriages can begin there on Monday, at least for now, NJ.com reports. The court will make a final ruling next year. "The state has advanced a number of arguments, but none of them overcome this reality: Same-sex couples who cannot marry are not treated equally under the law today," the court ruled, reports the AP. "The harm to them is real, not abstract or speculative." In September, a state superior court judge ruled that New Jersey's same-sex couples were losing out on federal benefits and equal rights since the US struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. Gov. Christie appealed, saying gay marriage should only be allowed by public vote. He also accused the Obama administration of denying rights to same-sex couples by not extending them to civil unions, which are considered equal in New Jersey. USA Today notes that with today's ruling, 13 states have recognized gay marriage.