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The Last CU Public Hearing
NUTLEY TOWNSHIP HALL
10-24-07, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
365Gay.com
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A Year Of
Civil Unions Shows
Law
Unworkable Attorneys Say
From the
Web, October 23, 2007
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Trenton, New Jersey -- As New
Jersey approaches the first anniversary Thursday of civil unions the lawyers who
fought for same-sex couple recognition say the system is not working.
"It is time to establish equality in New Jersey and allow same-sex couples to
marry just as other couples can," Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart
said in a letter marking the anniversary sent to Gov. Jon Corzine, Senate Pres.
Richard J. Codey and Speaker Joe Roberts, all Democrats.
On October 25, 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples
must have the rights as opposite-sex married couples but the court left it to
the legislature to decide whether that should be done through marriage or civil
unions.
Lawmakers chose civil unions, and gay and lesbian couples married in areas where
same-sex marriage is legal, were regarded as in a civil union in New Jersey.
The law went into effect in February.
In his letter to the top three lawmakers in the state Cathcart says the evidence
shows the civil union law does is discriminatory.
"By creating a separate status for same-sex couples, the government has invited
others to discriminate against them and some, sadly, have taken the invitation,"
Cathcart said in the letter.
"And even where same-sex couples appear to have the same concrete benefits that
married couples do, they do not have the security and dignity of being able to
explain to their children, their neighbors, or their children's teachers that
they are married. Civil unions are a discriminatory label that renders
same-sex couples different and inferior and no amount of tinkering with the
rules and benefits can erase that stain of inequality."
Cathcart said that since the law passed, Lambda Legal has worked directly with
over one hundred individuals who have called us seeking help addressing unequal
treatment or disregard for their civil unions. Garden State Equality
counts more than 300 couples.
A state commission set up by the legislature to monitor the civil union law has
heard similar complaints as it traveled across the state.
At one stop, in New Brunswick, 30 couples from across the state who have had
civil unions presented a letter calling on the commission to go back to the
legislature and recommend gay and lesbian couples be given full marriage.
Each of the couples said in the letter employers are refusing to recognize their
civil unions.
"It is not a political issue to us, but a personal one. The law's failure
is harming not only us, but also the children of us who are parents. We
cannot wait for the equality that the civil union law was supposed to provide,
but does not," the letter said.
The commission begins writing its report this week and is expected to recommend
the law be changed to say marriage.
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