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State panel studying
civil unions' success
Group to look at how
well the idea is working
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG,
nj.com from the Web, June 19, 2007
A state commission convened yesterday
to study whether civil unions in New Jersey really do provide all the benefits
of marriage.
A total of 1,092 same-sex couples have applied to form civil unions in New
Jersey since a new law allowed them four months ago, the New Jersey Civil Union
Review Commission was told yesterday.
During a brief organizational meeting in Trenton, the commission elected J.
Frank Vespa-Papaleo, the state's director of civil rights, as its chairman.
He said the commission was formed to answer seven questions about civil unions,
ranging from whether they are working to their recognition by other states to
how they affect children and the state's finances. It also must determine
whether same-sex couples need additional legal protections and whether an
existing law on domestic partnerships should be repealed.
"We're hoping to report twice a year on all seven of those items," Vespa-Papaleo
said, adding the panel will issue a final report by its deadline in 2010.
But its newly elected vice chairman, Steven Goldstein, who also chairs the gay
rights group Garden State Equality, predicted that lawmakers will not need three
years to conclude that the only way to treat same-sex couples equally is to
allow them to marry.
Goldstein said his organization is rapidly gaining converts to the cause of
same-sex marriage and there is a "very substantial" possibility that it could
pass the Legislature next year.
"If the trends continue," Goldstein said, "we'll have marriage equality in this
state before the mandate of this commission expires."
Same-sex couples have not embraced civil unions the way they did domestic
partnerships, which carried a fraction of the rights and became available in
July 2004. In the first month, 1,733 domestic partnerships were formed.
Four months after civil unions became available, 1,092 same-sex couples have
applied to form them, Joe Komosinski, the state registrar of vital statistics,
told his fellow commission members. He said 671 of those couples were
female and 421 were male.
"I'm shocked it's so low. We're in wedding season," Goldstein said.
Vespa-Papaleo said the Division on Civil Rights has gotten its first formal
complaint regarding civil unions. He said a Monmouth County resident in a
civil union charged an out-of-state employer with refusing to provide the same
benefits it extends to spouses. If the case cannot be resolved through
mediation, it will be assigned to division investigators, Vespa-Papaleo said.
Goldstein said his organization has gotten 148 informal complaints of civil
unions not being honored, often because an employer claims an exemption under
federal law.
"It's helpful to this commission to hear those numbers as well," Vespa-Papaleo
said, urging gay rights organizations to share their experience on how civil
unions are working.
Robert Schwaneberg may be reached at (609) 989-0324 or
rschwaneberg@starledger.com.
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