In 1999, a decision by the Supreme Court of New Jersey read as follows:

New Jersey has always been in the vanguard in the fight to eradicate the cancer of unlawful discrimination of all types from our society … it is unquestionably a compelling state interest of this State to eliminate the destructive consequences of discrimination from our society. In 1991, the Legislature … extended New Jersey’s historical commitment to the eradication of discrimination to that group of individuals who face discrimination because of sexual orientation.

Dale v. BSA, 160 N.J. 562, 619 (1999).