N.J. residents gravitate toward full marriage equality

New Jersey voters wouldn't object if the state legislature upgraded its six-month-old civil union law to full marriage equality, according to a Zogby poll released Wednesday by Garden State Equality.

Sixty-three percent of New Jersey voters said they would be fine with lawmakers enacting same-sex marriage, according to the poll taken August 8–10.

An even larger number, nearly 72%, said lawmakers would not lose their jobs over the issue "because people care about other issues more," pollsters found.

The poll, conducted by Zogby for the gay rights organization, anticipates Sunday's six-month anniversary of the civil union law.

Respondents were asked their feelings on marriage equality in two slightly different ways, Garden State Equality said, in order to guide activists' phrasing of the issue.

When voters were asked, "Do you agree or disagree that New Jersey should give gay couples the same freedom to marry as heterosexual couples?" 48% supported marriage equality and 45% opposed it.

But when voters were asked to choose between same-sex marriage, civil unions, or no partnership rights, the same 48% of voters supported marriage equality, only 30% supported civil unions but no more, and 20% supported neither option.

"The difference between the two questions may have been the concept of marriage for gay couples hurting the institution of marriage, the primary argument of marriage-equality opponents that New Jersey voters clearly reject," Equality said in a written statement.

Lawmakers created the civil unions after a state supreme court ruling in October requiring New Jersey to provide rights equal to marriage for gay and lesbian residents. But couples report difficulty claiming benefits, including a United Parcel Service worker and her partner who, with an assist from Gov. John Corzine, successfully challenged the shipper's refusal to extend partner health coverage it normally reserved for "spouses."

The poll of 803 New Jersey voters has a margin of error of 3.5%, Zogby said.

In the latest example of the civil unions dilemma, a state appeals court ruled Thursday that a lesbian couple who wed in Canada in 2004 and subsequently entered into a New Jersey domestic partnership are not entitled to file joint income taxes for 2006.

Roslyn Quarto and Judith Prichason, being legally married in Canada, were automatically recognized as civil union partners under the New Jersey law, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.

The court, however, ruled that "because [their] Canadian marriage was not legally recognized by statute in New Jersey as a civil union until February 19, 2007, [they] are being treated no differently than a truly similarly situated heterosexual married couple." Straight couples married in 2007 cannot file joint returns for money they earned in 2006, the court ruled.

Judge Edwin Stern concurred but filed a separate opinion expressing reservations about denying the couple's rights. "I find this to be a denial of equal protection under the New Jersey constitution," the Star-Ledger quoted Stern as writing. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)