|
The New York Times
NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Civil
Union Law Has Fallen Short
in Its First Year,
Commission Is Told
By TINA KELLEY,
nytimes.com from the Web, October 28, 2007
NUTLEY, N.J., Oct. 24 — Jodi
Weiner, an electrician from Montclair, said that when she tried to get health
benefits for her partner of nine years, she was told that her union’s plans did
not cover civil unions. It was only when she mentioned that they had been
married in Massachusetts that her partner was able to get benefits.
“The words ‘civil union’ were not good enough for Sally and me to get equality
in New Jersey, but the word ‘marriage’ is,” she said at a hearing of the Civil
Union Review Commission last month. “We can all talk about how the civil
union law is supposed to work just like marriage. But in my case and
others, it doesn’t work that way in the real world.”
 |
|
|
Sylwia Kapuscinski for The New York Times
Charles
Paragian, accompanied by his children, spoke to the Civil Union
Review Commission. |
|
In the last month dozens of couples
spoke at three hearings of the commission, which was created by the State
Legislature to monitor the effectiveness of civil unions. The hearings
came a year after the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that gay and straight
couples in New Jersey should have the same legal protections.
Three of the seven justices said gay couples should be able to marry, and four
left it for the Legislature to decide. Lawmakers voted in December to
allow civil unions, and since then, about 1,900 gay couples have had their
relationships formally recognized by the state.
But most of those who spoke at the hearings said that civil unions had not
provided the protections they had hoped for. Many of them asked the
commission to call on state officials to pass a marriage equality law in New
Jersey, which would make it the first to legislate such a solution.
(Massachusetts allowed gay marriage in 2003 in accordance with a court
decision.) Referring to last year’s Oct. 25 Supreme Court decision in
Lewis v. Harris, Cindy Meneghin, a plaintiff in the suit, addressed the
commission Wednesday night here in Essex County.
“It is not a happy anniversary, and it never will be, until the state of New
Jersey fulfills that legal mandate and gives us the full equality of a marriage
license,” she said.
Under state law, civil union couples are supposed to get the same legal rights
as married couples. But Steven Goldstein, a member of the commission and
chairman of Garden State Equality, a statewide gay advocacy organization, said
that 364 couples had told his group they had been denied benefits that married
couples get. Six couples have filed formal discrimination complaints with
the state.
Even if New Jersey allowed same-sex couples to marry, companies whose benefit
plans are covered by federal law would not have to extend coverage to same-sex
spouses. But in Massachusetts, most of those companies have done so
anyway, said Tom Barbera, a labor leader in Massachusetts for the past 30 years.
“Employers also understand that without the term ‘civil union’ or ‘domestic
partner’ to hide behind, if they don’t give equal benefits to employees in
same-sex marriages, these employers would have to come forth with the real
excuse for discrimination,” he told the panel at its first hearing, in New
Brunswick. “Employers would have to acknowledge that they are
discriminating against their employees because they are lesbian or gay.”
In Vermont, which started allowing civil unions in 2000, couples are continuing
to report legal problems and trouble obtaining benefits, said Beth Robinson, a
lawyer there who has represented same-sex couples.
“We know in a civil union regime, the burden of inertia favors discrimination,”
she said. “An employer who wants not to discriminate needs to amend
itself. An employer that wants to keep on discriminating simply needs to
do nothing.”
The 13-member commission, which includes representatives from the attorney
general’s office, the Department of Human Services, advocacy groups and others,
is expected to report the results of the hearings to Gov. Jon S. Corzine and the
Legislature by the end of the year, Mr. Goldstein said.
Several people who have obtained civil unions, including a number who work for
the state, said that they had had no problems getting benefits for their
partners. But they called for a marriage law to erase the stigma of what
they consider second-class status.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a Trenton Democrat, said he planned to reintroduce a
marriage equality law soon. He said if the Legislature does not act, the
State Supreme Court may need to consider whether civil unions have created full
equality in the state.
“I think there has been more and more acceptance and understanding that gay
persons should be able to share the same matrimonial happiness as any other
traditional couple,” Mr. Gusciora said.
Mr. Corzine, through a spokeswoman, Lilo Stainton, said on Wednesday that he
would sign a marriage equality law, but would like to take up the issue in 2009,
to avoid a national spotlight for the state during the presidential election
next year.
Asked if he felt civil unions were working, he said through Ms. Stainton:
“The answer is, yes, they’re working out in the sense that people have rights
that they did not have previously and are treated equally under the law.
Whether there is a sense of full recognition of their connection with their
partners is a fair question — but the bigger issue with regard to civil unions
or marriage rights is a federal issue.”
Assemblyman Richard A. Merkt, a Morris County Republican who said he would
oppose a bill on marriage for gay couples, criticized the commission for not
including anyone skeptical about civil unions. “A lot of people who favor
retaining the law as it is basically feel disenfranchised by the entire
process,” he said. “I consider it to be a complete waste of time.”
Few critics spoke at the hearings. One, Len Deo, told the commission here
that a poll commissioned by his organization, the New Jersey Family Policy
Council, showed 61 percent of state residents believe that same-sex couples have
the right to live as they choose but do not have the right to redefine marriage
for the rest of society.
Some straight residents testified at the hearings as well.
“When there’s discrimination against any group of people, endorsed by the
government, we are all diminished,” said Lucy O’Brien of Montclair, who has
three sons, one of whom is gay.
|
