Few register for domestic partner status in area
A total of 17 area couples have signed up in past month according to local registrars.
David Campbell , Staff Writer,
Princeton Packet August 6, 2004
A total of 17 area couples have registered so far under the state Domestic Partnership Act since the law went into effect almost a month ago, according to figures provided Thursday by local registrars.
As of Wednesday, a total of 1,173 couples statewide had registered as domestic partners under the new law, which took effect July 10, according to statistics provided by the state Department of Health and Senior Services.
By far the largest number of people taking advantage of the legislation have been gay and lesbian couples, with only 10 of the total 1,173 being heterosexual couples.
In Princeton, there have been nine registrations so far, with all but one of the couples coming from out of town, Registrar of Vital Statistics Maria Hernandez said Thursday.
She noted that applicants are not restricted to the municipality in which they reside but may register anywhere in the state.
There were five registrations in Plainsboro Township, all of them residents of that municipality, while in West Windsor Township there were no registrations, the registrars there said Thursday.
A total of three couples registered in Montgomery Township, all of them Montgomery residents, said Lauralyn Bowen, the township's registrar of vital statistics.
Plainsboro Township Clerk Patricia Hullfish said the relatively low number of applicants at her office was about what she expected, adding, "We're not deluged with people seeking marriage licenses, either."
Ms. Hullfish said domestic-partnership registration for applicants was "very important to them.
"It meant a lot to them," the clerk said of the couples she witnessed.
The Domestic Partnership Act requires that prospective domestic partners jointly file an affidavit at a registrar's office.
The law gives same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples age 62 and over many of the legal rights of married couples, including hospital visits, making emergency medical decisions, claiming each other as exemptions on state income-tax filings and qualifying for exemptions from the state inheritance tax.
About half of the total number of registering couples did so in the first days after the new law went into effect — approximately 500, Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Gretchen Michael said Thursday.
Gay and lesbian activists from Central Jersey who registered in the initial rush reported having both positive and negative experiences at their local registrars.
Bonnie Kantor, founder of the NJGayLife.com Web site based in Metuchen, described hers as "very positive."
Ms. Kantor said she and her longtime partner Linda Readerman have been together about 20 years and were married in a Jewish religious ceremony in 1990.
But she said they registered in Maplewood Township on the Saturday the law took effect in order to have the state's formal recognition.
A celebratory festival was held in Maplewood that day.
"Having the state acknowledge our relationship was incredibly meaningful," she said, describing the new law as legislation whose time "absolutely" has come, and as "a great first step."
Ms. Kantor said the statewide registration numbers to date seem low, noting, "There should be a lot more people."
But she added: "There are many gay couples who don't want to have the state involved in their relationship, but they should have the choice."
John Campbell of New Brunswick-based Task Force for Same-Sex Marriage described his registration experience in Edison on the Monday after the law took effect in less than glowing terms.
He recalled an apparently "homophobic" employee who he said was deliberately unhelpful to him and his partner,
Richard Harrison.
But another employee in the same building stepped in and was quite helpful, and the couple was registered soon after, in part for inheritance-tax protection under the new law,
Mr. Campbell said.
Mr. Campbell claimed some government workers are opposed to the legislation due to religious bias against gay unions, and said such opposition can be intimidating to some couples who wish to register but haven't yet.
"We're not sick nor sinful, it's a basic civil right," Mr. Campbell said.
"Even the gay people haven't reached that point. Mother nature is responsible for a gay person.
"I was married for almost 15 years before I woke up to myself," he added.
"This is not a religious sacrament. It's a civil contract."
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