Happy news here of New Jersey couples marrying at 12:01 a.m. today as a state court ruling took effect and cleared their nuptials. Noted: Gov. Chris Christie, a future presidential candidate, has dropped his appeal of the ruling.

Court challenges are underway in Arkansas of statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, with lawyers employing many of the  same arguments used elsewhere.

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Arkansas, too, will be in the news this week as native Chad Griffin, head of the Human Rights Campaign, comes home for a news conference Tuesday to publicize the firing of Mount St. Mary Academy teacher Tippi McCullough for marrying her partner, Barb Mariani. He talks about the trip here.

As I’ve said before, the Catholic Church won’t be reconsidering the case of Tippi McCullough. But her situation transfers readily to the private sector, where gay couples enjoy no protection should one or the other be fired from a job for deciding to marry in another state to afford themselves of the benefits extended married couples under the law. Discrimination runs deep. Their case is about far more than Catholic doctrine.