NJ Gays worried about future of gay marriage in the state

Judith Ford and Yvonne Mazzola rushed to a judge in 2007, as soon as New Jersey made civil unions legal.

The couple, who previously had entered into a civil union in Vermont, already had New Jersey domestic partnership papers. The Cumberland County residents were confident that this next step would qualify Mazzola for coverage on Ford's employer-sponsored health insurance.

Instead, Ford's company rejected her request - leading the couple to new worries that a serious illness could jeopardize their now-joint estate.

Nothing short of marriage will close such loopholes, said Ford, who once believed it didn't matter what a same-sex union was called if it guaranteed the same rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

She hopes the New Jersey Legislature will pass a same-sex marriage bill before the end of this legislative session, but the political winds have shifted.

Momentum had been building toward a vote on marriage equity, "but a few things have changed - namely the election," said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie's promise to veto such a measure means the window for passage will close in January for at least four years, Dworkin said. Democrats have the majority in both houses, but some party members in typically Democratic counties, such as Gloucester, where Christie won reportedly have become less comfortable taking on divisive issues.

Garden State Equality - the state lobby for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community - raised $50,000 at 11 "emergency action meetings" on Nov. 5 to promote the group's position, said chair Steven Goldstein.

The National Organization for Marriage, which has spent about a half-million dollars nationally to overturn gay marriage, has focused on New Jersey since Maine voters reversed that state's same-sex marriage law on Nov. 3.