New Jersey
In October 2006, the NJ Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in recognition of the equal needs and common humanity of committed same-sex couples and their kids. The Court said these American families are entitled to equal rights and responsibilities under the law. The legislature was told to pass legislation representing this decision. Unfortunately, New Jersey's legislature quickly passed a civil unions bill which took affect in January 2007. Incremental steps such as civil unions do provide some protections and responsibilities, but ultimately, marriage is the only status which achieves true fairness and equality. State advocacy organizations and citizens across New Jersey continue to work towards marriage equality.
Along with passing the civil union bill, the legislature set up a Civil Union Review Commission to study the implementation of civil unions and whether or not they fulfill the court's ruling. The commission has found ample evidence that civil unions are separate and unequal to marriage, and indeed are failing New Jersey families. The New Jersey legislature is expected to take up the issue of the failing civil union law.
FROM EVAN WOLFSON:
Today is Freedom to Marry Day – Just Don't Say "Gay Marriage"!
As Americans across the country celebrate Freedom to Marry Day today, seizing the opportunity to have conversations with family members, friends, and coworkers about the importance of ending same-sex couples' exclusion from marriage, hopefully they'll talk a lot about gay couples and why marriage matters – without saying “gay marriage” and “same-sex marriage.”
Building on 2007
In 2008, it is due season for the redeeming of our country, for justice for all families, and for that all-important second state. The work of winning begins with the conversations each one of us has with those around us, as we become the change we seek.
"Marriage Makes a Word of
Difference"
Evan Wolfson answers the question so often asked of same-sex
couples wanting to end their exclusion from marriage, "Why
can't you just call it something else?," by explaining how
the "clarity, security, and dignity [of the word marriage] is
precious and irreplaceable."
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WHERE YOU CAN GO TO GET INVOLVED OR LEARN MORE:
Garden State Equality
Garden State Equality didn't invent activism for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex civil rights in New Jersey, to be sure. But opinion leaders credit the organization with reinventing that activism dramatically.
Civil Unions Don't Work
You can witness the failure of New Jersey's civil union law through eight hours of evidence captured on videotape, read a report on the law, and much more.
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LEGISLATIVE STATUS IN NEW JERSEY:
Your Community—New Jersey
Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
HRC presents resources, news, and the current marriage and
relationship recognition laws in each state.
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THE NUMBERS: POLLING & STATISTICS:
A majority (63%) of New Jersey voters say they’d be fine with the state legislature upgrading civil unions to marriage equality, over twice the percentage of those who oppose such a change. [Zogby International, August 2007]
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PUBLICATIONS:
First Interim Report of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission
The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission published a report which determined New Jersey's civil union law "is not clear to the general public" and "creates a second-class status" for those who have filed for civil unions, among many other challenges that prove the law does not accomplish what it was intended to do--provide protections and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples and their families.
Candidates' Guide on How to Support Marriage Equality and Get Elected
Freedom to Marry
August 7, 2007
Americans are hungry for, and respect, candidates who speak up for what they believe and value. When addressing marriage equality for same-sex couples, candidates should be authentic and direct about their values and the policies of fairness that flow from them.
Pro-Marriage Incumbents and Candidates Win Elections
Freedom to Marry
July 26, 2007
Taking a stand to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage does not hurt incumbents or candidates in their elections.
Unanimous NJ High Court decision requires equal treatment for gay couples and their families
Four justices said gay and lesbian couples must be given all the rights and protections of marriage. Three, including retiring Chief Justice Poritz and new Chief Justice Zazzali, would have ended the exclusion from marriage immediately. It is now up to the legislature to finish the job.
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NEWS:
OPINION: Marital Melee
"Whatever the advisability or inadvisability of gay marriage, it would change the definition only for gays, by including them in marriage’s legal ambit. As for the others, 'the rest of society,' pardon us if we are being obtuse, but we fail to see how the definition of marriage would change for them. For the overwhelming majority of society, traditional opposite-sex marriage would still be traditional opposite-sex marriage, wouldn’t it?"
Toasting an Oscar Win, Hoping for Greater Rights
It was part Oscar party and part civil rights rally. More than 300 people filled a theater here to standing-room-only capacity on Sunday evening to watch “Freeheld,” which won the Academy Award for best documentary short subject…According to Steven Goldstein, president of Garden State Equality, more than 2,400 couples in New Jersey have entered into same-sex unions, and about one-fourth of them have filed complaints with Garden State Equality over benefits. The group is an advocacy organization for gay, lesbian and transgender people in New Jersey. “I wish this film had a happy ending,” Mr. Goldstein shouted to the crowd after the credits rolled. “It does not. Our civil union law is failing; it is not respected like marriage.”
OPINION: Elusive Equality
The Times editorial staff says N.J. civil unions provide inadequate protection for gay couples and that it will take "political courage," not "more dawdling," to end the exclusion of same-sex couples and their families from marriage.
New Jersey governor concerned civil unions don’t bring equal rights
"New Jersey's civil union law segregates, discriminates and humiliates the very people it is supposed to help," Garden State Equality's Steven Goldstein said."The report does raise significant concerns about whether the law has effectively granted same-sex couples the same rights and benefits of every other family in the state," Gov. Jon S. Corzine said.
Report criticizes NJ civil union law
A New Jersey commission has found in an initial report that civil unions - approved a year ago in an attempt to ensure equal rights for same-sex couples - are falling short of the goal. It said that employers were still discriminating against those in same-sex relationships and that civil unions were "not clear to the general public, which creates a second-class status."
Marriage vs. civil union: What's in a name matters
For too many families across New Jersey, the warning of former New Jersey Chief Justice Deborah Poritz has proven prophetic. "What we name things matters, language matters," she wrote in her dissent in the 2006 Supreme Court decision that led to civil unions rather than marriage for same-sex couples. "By excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage, the state declares that it is legitimate to differentiate between their commitments and the commitments of heterosexual couples."
The "M" word matters
Politicker NJ
November 12, 2007
Carla Katz, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1034, the largest CWA local in the country, writes, "The truth is, same-sex marriage is not a 'gay' issue. It is a civil rights issue, pure and simple. It is, and should be, as important to those of us in the 'straight' community as any other civil rights issue. Time and again, the United States Supreme Court has announced that marriage is a fundamental, constitutionally protected right of all citizens. I emphasize the word 'all'. One need not even support the concept of marriage sanctioned by the church or the state to defend the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Defending that right simply means being in favor of equal rights for all."
EDITORIAL: A flawed law
New York Times
November 11, 2007
The New York Times weighs in again, strongly, for marriage and makes clear that civil union/partnership, etc., is no substitute for equality under the law. Congratulations to our colleagues at Garden State Equality, for making the case so strongly in New Jersey.
NJ civil union law has fallen short in its first year, commission is told
New York Times
October 28, 2007
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.
NJ's civil union law is a fiasco
Blue Jersey
September 26, 2007
At tonight's first public hearing of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, Garden State Equality presents a mountain of new evidence showing the failure of New Jersey's civil union law to provide equality as real marriage would. 30 civil-unioned couples from across New Jersey will present a joint letter to state leaders. An expert from Vermont will testify that civil unions in Vermont still don't work like marriage, seven years after Vermont enacted a civil unions law.
Corzine: NJ marriage equality inevitable
Gay City News
September 9, 2007
In a one-hour session with gay journalists, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine made clear that he sees full marriage equality for same-sex couples as inevitable in the Garden State. At Corzine's urging, the Legislature adopted a civil unions law last fall. While emphasizing his desire to have "a little more time" to judge how it's working, the governor was unambiguous in saying he would sign a marriage equality law if it came to his desk.
The choir doesn't even have the sheet music
Huffington Post
July 11, 2007
Joan Garry discusses her civil union ceremony and the uneducated responses of her friends "Now, you're married — just like us," highlighting the need for public education, especially to those we assume already 'have the sheet music,' on the separate and unequal status of civil unions, and the continuing exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage.
BLOG: Stop calling my civil union a marriage
Blue Jersey
May 23, 2007
Ignoring the differences between civil unions and marriage doesn't make them go away. Pretending that civil unions are the same as marriage doesn't make it true. The latest news here in New Jersey is proving, just as Blue Jersey predicted, that civil unions are an inferior status that don't work in the real world, and aren't working in New Jersey.
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MULTIMEDIA:
Civil Unions Don't Work
Watch videos explaining why civil unions don't work and learn more about what is going on in New Jersey to win marriage equality.
RADIO AD: Help
Listen to Garden State Equality's radio commercial about how civil unions don't work, produced by Tom Oppel of All Points Communications.
New Jersey's Chief Opponent of Marriage Equality Says Letting Same-Sex Couples Marry Would Not Affect His Marriage
February 20, 2008
New Jersey’s chief opponent of marriage equality, John Tomicki of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage, stated yesterday that marriage equality for same-sex couples would not affect his marriage. His sweeping, quite puzzled response, “Why would it?” demolishes the argument that ending discrimination in marriage would destroy the institution.
Busy Family
YouTube.com
November 6, 2007
Garden State Equality's commercial "Busy Family" is a cinema verite-style portrait of a real-life same-sex couple at home with their two kids. As the couple feeds their kids in a busy scene typical of any family, President Bush is seen on a television in their living room, delivering a speech to Congress about his belief that committed same-sex couples should be banned from marriage.
The story behind 'Think Equal'
Think Equal Ads
Blue Jersey
December 11, 2006
After the elections, I had been thinking about the NJ Supreme Court's decision on same-sex couples, and wanted to do something for equality.
I wasn't quite sure what I — a straight political junkie kid — had to offer... One of the things we felt we could address is how the netroots talks about marriage. Often, we ignore the substance of the issue to discuss the politics — how the right uses it as a distraction, how silly their attacks are, and what's the best way for candidates to approach the issue. In doing so, it makes us think marriage is being discussed, but it's really not.
Video archive of the Supreme Court's oral arguments
February 15, 2006
Listen to oral arguments in New Jersey's marriage equality case.
Laurel Hester Commercial
Garden State Equality
View an ad that Garden State Equality aired for marriage equality on News 12 New Jersey.
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You can witness the failure of New Jersey's civil union law through eight hours of evidence captured on videotape, read a report on the law, and much more.
The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission published a report February 19, 2008 which determined New Jersey's civil union law "is not clear to the general public" and "creates a second-class status" for those who have filed for civil unions, among many other challenges that prove the law does not accomplish what it was intended to do--provide protections and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples and their families.
Garden State Equality's commercial "Busy Family" is a cinema verite-style portrait of a real-life same-sex couple at home with their two kids. As the couple feeds their kids in a busy scene typical of any family, President Bush is seen on a television in their living room, delivering a speech to Congress about his belief that committed same-sex couples should be banned from marriage.
