New Jersey should enact a law allowing gay marriage and waste no time passing it because the state's civil unions law fails to adequately protect same-sex couples, a report to be released today concludes.
The final report of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission says it gathered "overwhelming evidence" the civil union law not only fails to provide the same protections as marriage, it also has created economic, medical and emotional hardships for gay couples.
The commission concluded denying same-sex couples the right to marry is as unjust as government imposing racial segregation laws against African-Americans.
Gina Pastino of Montclair told the commission about a run-in her partner had with an emergency room doctor this summer when Pastino was rushed to the hospital suffering from an irregular heartbeat. The physician "did not understand and hadn't heard of civil unions before," Pastino told the commission. He initially refused to share any information with her partner, Naomi Cohen, then did so reluctantly.
"We've had this issue every time we go into a health care setting, but this was the worst," Pastino said in an interview today. "It's exhausting and frustrating and scary. People just don't realize they way we are hurt by not being able to say we are married. "
The civil union law also has failed to guarantee health insurance benefits, the report said. With half of all employers in the state self-insured under the federal Employment Retirement Insurance Security Act, they are not required to abide by New Jersey's civil union law.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/goldstein.html
