The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Republican Governor Chris Christie to stay a ruling that declared the Garden State's ban on same-sex marriage until the appeals process had been completed, meaning lesbian and gay couples can tie the knot as early as Monday, October 21.

“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 harm to them is real, not abstract or speculative,” wrote Chief Justice Stuart Rabner in the decision.“We applied settled legal standards and determined that the state has not shown a reasonable probability it will succeed on the merits.”

Judge Mary Jacobson ruled in September that the end of DOMA meant New Jersey's ban was unconstitutional and gave Monday as the deadline for marriage equality to take effect. Christie had hoped his appeals would be addressed before gay couple started marching down the aisle, but Rabner wasn't having it.

“Today’s decision provides tremendous momentum at a key moment in our movement,” said Marriage Equality USA director Brian Silva, who said his group is also pursuing freedom-to-marry campaigns in Hawaii, Illinois, and nationwide.

The gay-resort town of Asbury Park has already started issuing marriage licences, and  Newark Mayor Cory Booker (soon to be Senator Cory Booker) has announced he'll start officiating same-sex nuptials at 12:01am on Monday.

The one cloud on this otherwise sunny news is that these marriages could be nullified should the Court later find in favor of Christie's appeal. But we're gonna try not to think about that.