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NJ Senate should approve bill aiding gay couplesEDITORIAL, Home News Tribune from the Web, January 7, 2004Same-sex couples in New Jersey live in a legal limbo, unable to marry and unable to enjoy the statutory benefits and freedoms afforded their heterosexual counterparts. The state Senate can take a step toward redressing those inequities tomorrow, when it considers legislation known as the Domestic Partnership Act, which guarantees gay couples equal protections under the law. The moment is right for action. Gay couples have been conferred numerous rights in recent years. In New Jersey, they can adopt a baby. In Vermont (and Massachusetts) they can join in state-sanctioned civil unions. Other states guarantee the family right of entry into hospital rooms when a partner is ill. Meanwhile, laws everywhere prohibit discrimination against sexual orientation in the work place, in college admissions or the lending process. National and state laws are meant to be dynamic and fluid for a reason: to adapt to fundamental changes in societal views. Survey after survey shows majority attitudes favor equal protections for gay couples, a clear shift in public thought from even a decade ago. The Domestic Partnership Act isn't centered only on aiding individuals. It also recognizes that what is good for same-sex couples is good for society as a whole. The act provides individuals control over their lives by giving them the ability to treat their partners as spouses for the purposes of inheritance; donation of deceased partners' organs; delivery of health care; receipt of health-care benefits, and child visitation rights. Each provision creates couples who are committed to each other financially as well as emotionally -- steadier, more stabilizing forces in the community at large. The bill is not perfect. The legislation was expanded to include heterosexual couples 62 and older who don't want to get married for income-tax reasons. If the marriage tax penalty is the problem, it should be fixed for everyone (the federal Tax Act of 2003 eliminated it for many couples). Otherwise, they and other heterosexuals can marry. The bill needn't create an unnecessary group of beneficiaries. Regardless, the purpose of the legislation is not about material gain alone; same-sex couples seek well-deserved legitimacy and recognition for their partnerships. The state ought to ensure they get it. The Assembly has passed the bill, so should the Senate, and the governor should sign it. (MA does not have CU) |
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