Civil unions' time
has come
Same-sex couples find
recognition
By GINA VERGEL, Home
News Tribune Online, February 19, 2007
Though the state's civil-union law
takes effect today, gay couples in the area may have to wait until Tuesday to
get their legal paperwork started.
That's because most area municipalities are closed today for Presidents Day.
Town halls in Asbury Park, Lambertville and South Orange were planning to open
at midnight Sunday into Monday so couples could apply for licenses in time for
ceremonies scheduled for early Thursday. Those municipalities were opening
at the request of specific couples to process civil-union applications at the
first possible moment that's legal but the offices did not plan to be open
during regular hours for walk-in traffic.
Procedure-wise, couples must apply for a civil-union license.
"It's exactly the same as a marriage, only the wording is different," said
Carteret Deputy Registrar Judy Frabasile. "They have to make an
appointment to apply, have a witness over the age of 18 at time of application,
provide identification, tell us where they will do their union and pay a $28
fee."
Both parties must be present when applying for the license and must also provide
Social Security numbers and the names and county of birth of their parents.
As for where to obtain a civil-union or marriage license, each municipality
varies. For example, in Highland Park, couples should call the borough
Clerk's Office while in Carteret, licenses are processed by the registrar in the
Health Department.
Frabasile attended a four-hour course on the procedures for civil unions in
Monmouth Junction on Wednesday.
"It was a really good meeting," Frabasile said. "It was set up by the
state registrar, and it was information-filled to make sure everything goes
smoothly and there is no discrimination."
New Jersey will become the third state with civil unions for gay couples today
as a law passed last year under pressure from the state Supreme Court takes
effect.
Civil unions offer the benefits of marriage — except the title — to gay couples.
The Legislature decided to offer them in December, after an October court ruling
that held gay couples in the state were constitutionally entitled to all the
benefits of marriage.
Couples bound by a civil union will enjoy the same legal rights,
responsibilities and financial benefits that married heterosexual couples have,
such as the right to family-leave benefits and joint ownership of property.
The right of a married spouse to change a surname without petitioning a court is
available to a civil-union partner, too.
But the federal government won't recognize the changed name on a passport or
federal tax document, Frabasile said.
"We'll be advising couples to get a legal name change in court if they want to
do that because it can cause a roadblock for them," Frabasile said.
Gay couples are held to the same guidelines as heterosexual couples to get
hitched: they must be over 18 years old or meet requirements for an
exception; not be a party to another civil union, domestic partnership or
marriage; and not be closely related to each other, such as an ancestor,
descendant, sibling, niece, nephew, aunt or uncle.
The procedure to terminate a civil union is similar to that of a divorce.
So, though a civil union is like a marriage, it is not quite that, said Leslie
Gabel-Brett, the director of education and public awareness for New York-based
Lambda Legal.
"The word marriage really matters — it's a recognizable status that has a full
respect in our society," Gabel-Brett said. "The civil-union bill was
crafted specifically to set same-sex couples apart."
The push to get same-sex marriage recognized in New Jersey is not dead, said
Gabel-Brett.
"There's a huge effort to get the Legislature to reconsider (limiting same-sex
couples to civil unions). It's being led by the Garden State Coalition for
Equality," she said.
In the meantime, Lambda Legal has launched a civil unions watch.
"It's so that we see how things go and to help same-sex couples — make sure they
are not being discriminated against," Gabel-Brett said.
Should a gay couple experience difficulties in applying for a civil-union
license, Gabel Brett said they can call Lambda Legal's legal help desk at (212)
809-8585.
"We might not be able to handle every case, but we'll help answer questions and
troubleshoot," Gabel-Brett said.
As for getting a civil-union ceremony performed at a municipality, Carteret
Registrar Diane Kish said it is up to each individual mayor or municipal judge.
But Tom Slater, a spokesman for the state, said he believed each municipality
would have to provide an officer licensed to perform the civil-union ceremony.
"It's legislation so that makes it the law," said Slater, a spokesman with the
state Department of Health and Senior Services, which handles marriage and
civil-union certificates.
Instead of following Massachusetts, the only state that now allows gay couples
to marry, the New Jersey Legislature chose to offer civil unions, as Vermont and
Connecticut have.
At least few hundred of the state's estimated 20,000 gay couples — those who
have civil unions or marriages from other states or nations that allow them —
will automatically be in civil unions in this state at 12:01 a.m. Monday, when
the law takes effect.
The first ceremonies were authorized as of the first minutes this morning when
couples who have civil unions from those other states reaffirm them in New
Jersey.
Contributing: The Associated Press and Gannett State Bureau's
Michael Symons
gvergel@thnt.com
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