Culture

Welcome to (Gay) New Jersey

by Kaitlin | February 19, 2007 at 11:05 am

942 views | 10 Recommendations | 1 comment

Today marks the first day that gay couples get the right to a civil union under a law passed in December. Under the new law, couples receive the same benefits as heterosexual marriages but without the title. Already people are filing for civil union ceremonies, but they have to wait 72 hours to hold the ceremony. For those couples who were already joined, the benefits took effect at 12:01am this morning.

Here's the full story from AP. We at NowPublic are going hunting for photos of civil unions as they take place on Thursday and this weekend. If you or someone you know is being joined, please let us know!

Information on the rights afforded by the bill are outlined on New Jersey's NJGayLife.com, here.

And here's our original story on the passing of the bill, which Actual News Guy covered as it broke in December:

This just came in via Reuters (Dems have control of NJ legislature and governorship). New Jersey is now the third state to make this move, joining Vermont and Connecticut.

Massachusetts stands alone in approving same-sex marriage (as opposed to union).

But someone please explain where this issue stands in the big picture - in regard to state and federal courts.

AP is reporting, "The bill was drafted in response to a landmark state Supreme Court
ruling in October. The court required the state to extend all
privileges of marriage to gay couples within 180 days."

And what does this have to do with the federal Defense of Marriage Act? This is from Wikipedia:

"Including the results of the 2006 midterm elections, six states currently have established laws recognizing either same-sex marriage or some alternative form of same-sex union, twelve states ban any recognition of any form of same-sex unions including civil union,twenty-six states have adopted amendments to their state constitution prohibiting same sex marriage, and another twenty states have enacted statutory DOMAs.

TRENTON, New Jersey (Reuters) - New Jersey lawmakers approved same-sex civil unions on Thursday, giving gay and lesbian couples the same rights as married partners without allowing such relationships to be called "marriage."

With the expected signature of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in coming days, New Jersey will become the third U.S. state after Vermont and Connecticut to legalize civil unions.

Only Massachusetts has legalized marriage between same-sex partners while other states have domestic partnership laws.

The New Jersey measure follows an October 25 state Supreme Court ruling that affirmed equal rights for same-sex couples but left it to lawmakers to decide whether to use the term "marriage."

Stephen Goldstein, chairman of gay rights group Garden State Equality, said civil unions represent "tremendous progress." But he said he was disappointed legislators did not legalize gay marriage.

"I'm glad for the progress but not very satisfied," Goldstein said, adding he would continue fighting for same-sex marriage.

The measure passed the state Senate with a vote of 23-12 after the Assembly approved the measure 56-19 with five abstentions. Both houses are controlled by Democrats.