Is it legal to call out a paid maternity leave or are you required to create a parental leave policy that is applied equally to both genders?

You should look at both the Federal Family Leave Act and NJ.  you can find a lot of answers to your questions here.   http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/epbam/additional/fmla-qa.htm It appears that the Act applies to both genders for a variety of reasons, not just maternity leave.