A panel of New
Jersey lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday that would
create civil unions giving equal rights to gay and lesbian
couple, shunning a push to call those partnerships
"marriage." The state assembly's judiciary committee
voted 4-2 for the bill, which would provide couples in
such unions with the legal rights of married pairs.
The measure follows an October 25 state supreme
court ruling that ordered the legislature to give gay
couples the same rights and benefits as heterosexual
couples but left it to lawmakers to decide whether to call
such arrangements "marriage." Massachusetts became the
first and only state to legalize same-sex marriage in
2004. Several other states have civil union or
domestic-partnership laws.
The New Jersey panel heard sometimes emotional
testimony from campaigners on both sides in a four
hour-long hearing. Steve McIntyre said he has been
with his partner for 20 years, and they want to be legally
married. "He's not my roommate, he's not my partner,
he's my husband," McIntyre told the panel.
The bill was expected to be approved in both
houses of the legislature by the end of the year.
Karen Nicholson-McFadden, who is among seven
same-sex couples who brought the supreme court case
against the state, urged lawmakers to vote against the
civil unions bill because, she said, it would continue
discrimination against gay and lesbian couples by
preventing them from marrying. "The government thinks
it's OK to treat us differently because we are gay,"
she said. "I will never be allowed to marry the only person
I would ever want to marry if you pass this bill."
Among witnesses opposing same-sex marriage, the
Reverend Peter West presented a letter from seven
Catholic bishops urging lawmakers to affirm that
marriage is "between one man and one woman." (Jon Hurdle,
Jonathan Oatis, Reuters)
