NJ Marriage Equality Part 1: State of the Civil Union

This is the first part of a three-part series on gay marriage in New Jersey.
Part 2 will cover polling and statistics, while part 3 will focus on moral and religious issues.

It's time for another shot at marriage equality in New Jersey. The Star Ledger is reporting that a bill to legalize gay marriage is in the works:

In a dramatic gesture, Democratic leaders plan to announce Monday that a bill legalizing gay marriage will be the first measure to be introduced in the new session of the Senate and the Assembly, sources with knowledge of their intentions said tonight.

The unified Democratic leadership represents the best chance supporters will have to see a bill legalizing gay marriage move through both houses, according to three sources who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the plan.

Though the bill stands a chance of passing the state legislature, Governor Chris Christie remains the largest obstacle to marriage equality in New Jersey. He has spoken out against gay marriage in the past, stating on Meet the Press:

I am not a fan of same-sex marriage. It's not something that I support. I believe marriage should be between one man and one woman. That's my view, and that'll be the view of our state because I wouldn't sign a bill that - like the one that was in New York.

Indeed, a Democratic legislature failed to pass a similar bill in the waning days of Governor Corzine's governorship in 2009, before the Republican Christie took office.

New Jersey is not alone in wishing to advance the case of marriage equality. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in six states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York, as well as the District of Columbia. A May 2008 California Supreme Court decision allowed gay marriage for six months before a move to legislate the matter, Proposition 8, was voted down in November. Maine, the first state to establish same-sex marriage through legislation rather than a court ruling, enjoyed a similar six-month period of legalized same-sex marriage in 2009. The law was overturned via popular vote on a November ballot.

New Jersey, Hawaii and Illinois are the only U.S. states that currently permit civil unions, and only New Jersey permit these without attendant anti-gay marriage legislation. Twenty-nine states have such laws. Meanwhile, heterosexual marriage is legal in 50 states, and may be achieved through religious or secular means: the church or the courthouse.

Civil Unions or Gay Marriage?
Some wonder what the big deal is. Doesn't New Jersey already allow civil unions?

It does. The Civil Union Act was signed into law by Governor Jon Corzine on December 21, 2006 and came into effect on February 19, 2007. But the law has failed in achieving its stated goals. The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission (CURC), established alongside the legalization of civil unions, found that the New Jersey law is ineffective at affording equal rights to gay couples as those received by married straight couples. New Jersey civil union law does not guarantee federal protection or equal treatment by insurance providers, hospitals, and the government. There have also been problems with requiring private-sector organizations to provide equal services as those offered to married couples.

The CURC issued a report in December 2008 based on the findings of 18 public meetings, 26 hours of oral testimony, and hundreds of pages of written submissions from more than 150 witnesses. It concluded:

[T]his Commission finds that the separate categorization established by the Civil Union Act invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children. In a number of cases, the negative effect of the Civil Union Act on the physical and mental health of same-sex couples and their children is striking, largely because a number of employers and hospitals do not recognize the rights and benefits of marriage for civil union couples.

The CURC proposed three recommendations to remedy the apparent inequality.

1. It called on the legislature and governor to amend the law to allow couples to marry. 
2. It proposed this law should be “enacted expeditiously because any delay in marriage equality will harm all the people of New Jersey.” 
3. It recommended the continuation of the Domestic Partnership Act, which provides protection to committed though unmarried heterosexual and same-sex couples age 62 and over.

This legislation, which affects 4,800 same-sex and 100 opposite-sex couples, guarantees visitation, medical, funeral/autopsy/organ donation rights for domestic partners, as well as tax benefits and pensions benefits.

The commissions findings give a strong case to gay rights advocates because it grounds the argument in legal terms. Civil union legislation has failed to provide the rights and responsibilities it promised, and therefore must be fixed, or another law - such as a gay marriage law - should replace it.

When legislators failed to amend civil union law in 2009, gay rights organizations Lambda Legal and Garden State Equality turned to the courts.

The battle for marriage equality in New Jersey, therefore, is currently being fought both through the legislative and judicial branches of state government. But even a win through the legislature may be blocked by Christie. Even then, gay couples would miss out on federal benefits. So what does the state's population think of all this? That is the topic of the next article in this series, to be posted Wednesday.