Thursday 14 December 2006

    Trenton, New Jersey - New Jersey lawmakers approved same-sex civil unions on Thursday, giving gay and lesbian couples the same rights as married partners without allowing such relationships to be called "marriage."

    With the expected signature of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in coming days, New Jersey will become the third U.S. state after Vermont and Connecticut to legalize civil unions.

    Only Massachusetts has legalized marriage between same-sex partners while other s?ates have domestic partnership laws.

    The New Jersey measure follows an October 25 state Supreme Court ruling that affirmed equal rights for same-sex couples but left it to lawmakers to decide whether to use the term "marriage."

    Stephen Goldstein, chairman of gay rights group Garden State Equality, said civil unions represent "tremendous progress." But he said he was disappointed legislators did not legalize gay marriage.

    "I'm glad for the progress but not very satisfied," Goldstein said, adding he would continue fighting for same-sex marriage.

    The measure passed the state Senate with a vote of 23-12 after the Assembly approved the measure 56-19 with five abstentions. Both houses are controlled by Democrats.

    A poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Connecticut, showed last week that 60 percent of New Jersey voters supported a law allowing civil unions and half were opposed to gay marriage.

    Wilfredo Caraballo, the Democratic sponsor of the Assembly's bill, said he would have preferred to legalize same-sex marriage, but there was not enough support yet.

    "We simply don't have the votes today," he said. "What we do have is the will to undo centuries of discrimination.

    "What we are about to do today is nothing short of recognizing that love matters," Caraballo said as the bill's supporters watched from the public gallery. "The gender of who someone loves should not matter to the state."

    Mims Hackett, a black Assemblyman, said acceptance of same-sex unions was comparable to the end of the racial discrimination he grew up with in the U.S. South. "I look forward to the day not far in the future when each and every one of us can enjoy the full equality of marriage," he said.

    But Republican Richard Merkt attacked the state's Supreme Court for affirming the equal rights of same-sex couples without seeking the public's opinion, and for requiring the legislature to endorse its action.

    "This Assembly will rubber-stamp a law dictated by an unelected judiciary," Merkt said.