Suit over gay
marriage could trump law in N.J.
Same-sex couples say
they feel let down by the state's domestic
partnership benefits.
Now their focus is on a state high-court case.
By Kaitlin Gurney,
philly.com from the Web, July 10, 2005
A year ago, gay and lesbian couples
held rainbow-themed celebrations marking the day New Jersey became the fifth
state to offer domestic partnership benefits with some of the rights of
marriage.
But today, many same-sex couples say the groundbreaking law has been a
disappointment, a mere taste of the rights of marriage they covet in a state
that still relegates their relationships to second-class status.
Couples such as Paula Long and Rosalind Heggs of Camden found that the law
failed to deliver the hospital decision-making rights it promised when Our Lady
of Lourdes Medical Center refused to recognize their union. Roberto Font
Deane and Herb Russell of Cape May Courthouse discovered that the law was so
limited that it did not require Deane's public school district employer to offer
health benefits to his partner.
"A year ago we cried in happiness, and today we cry out of profound sadness
about how the law hasn't worked in the real world," said Steven Goldstein,
founder of the political-action group Garden State Equality.
Gay and lesbian leaders say they have turned their focus to a case coming before
the state Supreme Court in the fall that seeks full marriage benefits for
same-sex couples. A state appeals court last month ruled against the nine
same-sex couples who sued the state, but an impassioned dissent from one of the
judges guarantees the case a Supreme Court hearing.
Experts say that the liberal-leaning state Supreme Court -- which once barred
Boy Scouts from meeting in public places because the group discriminated against
gays -- may make New Jersey the second state after Massachusetts to legalize
same-sex marriage. Similar cases are pending in appellate courts in New
York and California and in Washington's Supreme Court.
"I think we have a very good chance in New Jersey," said David Buckel, marriage
project director for Lambda Legal, a gay civil-rights group. "The
constitution of this state has been interpreted to be strongly protective of
civil rights, and the high court has never been afraid to enforce those rights."
Supreme Court watchdog Robert Williams, a professor at Rutgers University School
of Law-Camden, predicted that the case would receive an "honest and open-minded
opinion."
But state statutes, and not the state's constitution, define marriage as between
a man and a woman, said Patrick DeAlmeida, a deputy attorney general
representing the state. Changing a statute is the legislature's domain, he
said, and legislators chose to create a separate domestic partnership law.
The League of American Families continues to oppose the domestic partnership law
and may sue to strike it down after the Supreme Court issues its ruling,
executive director John Tomicki said.
Since last July, 3,309 couples have paid New Jersey's $28 fee and registered as
domestic partners with municipal clerks, according to state Department of Health
statistics.
Domestic partnership status offers couples older than 18 the right to visit one
another in the hospital, grant medical consent, declare a partner a dependent on
tax forms, and avoid state inheritance taxes. The law requires state
government to extend health benefits to state workers' partners but does not
require county or municipal governments to do the same.
Deane, a sixth-grade teacher at Cape May Elementary School, said his school
district had considered extending health benefits to his partner, Russell, until
it discovered that the state did not require them. "The Board of Education
considered Herb a financial burden, and I understand that, but if the board
feels that way, how can it support the partners of heterosexual couples?" Deane
said.
Deane, 56, and Russell, 52, were married in Canada in 2003 and decided in August
to register as domestic partners in New Jersey. "We went into this with
our eyes wide open. It was a pragmatic, practical decision that had none
of the romance and beauty of our marriage in Canada," Deane said. "This is
absolutely better than nothing, but we get frustrated, especially as taxpayers."
Long and Heggs secured a civil union in Vermont in 2001 and settled in Camden's
Fairview section with Long's three daughters. When Heggs, 55, had a heart
attack and a stroke, Lourdes Medical Center employees refused to consult Long or
allow her to sign consent forms.
Long said that she showed hospital nurses a highlighted section of the domestic
partnership law recognizing partnerships forged in other states but that they
refused to allow her access to Heggs until she contacted Lambda Legal.
"When my partner's life was in jeopardy wasn't a time to be treated like that,"
said Long, 46. "The hospital treated her medically -- they saved her life
-- but they disrespected me and our partnership."
Lourdes spokeswoman Wendy Marano said the hospital follows the law but
encourages same-sex couples who have made partnerships in other states to renew
them in New Jersey.
Goldstein, of Garden State Equality, said the frustration that Long and Deane
share with many other same-sex couples has fueled desire for "full marriage
equality."
"I think public officials in this state thought if they fed us a few crumbs and
a very few rights, we would go away, and the opposite has been the case,"
Goldstein said. "Now that we've seen it doesn't work in the real world, we
are more determined than ever. The domestic partnership law has only
emboldened us."
Contact staff writer Kaitlin Gurney at 609-989-7373 or
kgurney@phillynews.com
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