IT'S YOUR VICTORY!!! New Jersey becomes fifth U.S. state to recognize gay relationships

This letter from Steven Goldstein says it better than I could:

---

Dear Friends,

 

    Today's monumental civil rights victory in Trenton, the final passage of domestic partnership legislation that grants legal recognition to lesbian and gay couples in New Jersey, is because of you.  This is YOUR VICTORY, one that YOU -- truly YOU IN PARTICULAR -- worked tremendously hard for.  Your participation in events of the past year, from the town meetings to the legislative dinners to the crucial meetings of the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition, the Family Equality Coalition and all 107 state and local organizations involved, made all the difference in the world.  The LGBTI community became an army of thousands upon thousands against whom the few haters didn't stand a chance.  Deep appreciation also goes to the 187 clergy members across New Jersey who gave us so much of their time, proving that people of faith are people for equality. 

 

    New Jersey now becomes the fifth U.S. state to recognize lesbian and gay relationships.  The rights provided under this domestic partnership law are a fraction of those provided by marriage, but wow, is this ever an important step toward equality!

 

    In that regard, New Jersey also becomes the first U.S. state to pass domestic partnership benefits without an anti-marriage equality law as a tradeoff.  The New Jersey law is a clean, pro-civil rights law, period.

 

    Just as remarkably, today's vote in the State Senate was 23-to-9.  Perhaps never before in U.S. history has a legislative body ever voted for a gay rights measure by that large a margin.  And in the floor debate over the bill, not a single Senator spoke against it.

 

    As you know, our year-long campaign has been called "Supporting All Roads to Justice:  Marriage Equality in the Courts, Domestic Partnership in the Legislature."  We have successfully travelled one of those two roads.  Our campaign for marriage equality will be as aggressive as in 2004 as it was in 2003.  Please keep an eye out for the announcement of our Spring 2004 town meetings, "Equal People, Equal Marriage:  Continuing All Roads to Justice."

 

    Congratulations to you and your loved ones!

 

    All best,

    Steven Goldstein

      with Lambda Legal

      Cell (917) 449-8918

      Goldstein@AttentionAmerica.com

 

 

---

NJBEST and NJDP details

So everyone is talking about NJ becoming the 5th state to recognize Domestic Parterships. However, you might miss that the same Senate just passed an improvement to NJBEST. NJBEST permits parents to save taxes by putting money away for their children's college education. The law passed this week (and sure to be signed by the Governor) lets non-parents also contribute to the NJBEST fund of a child. What this means is that same-sex couples can now benefit from the NJBEST plan (both by receiving the tax benefit, and the social benefit of another child with a well-funded college education).

So what are the financial implications of the Domestic Partnership law?

According to The Express-Times:

• -- Be granted the right to collect the public pensions of deceased partners;
• -- Be guaranteed hospital visitation during illnesses;
• -- Qualify to receive health benefits in a partner's name.

But the legislation would fall short of issuing the full protection of married couples in two ways. Partners in the arrangements would have less extensive property rights if they split, and child custody rights would be slightly scaled back. (end quote)

However the real exicting thing about the DP law is that it is the first state to have such a law that didn't include a DOMA provision (i.e. doesn't explicitly ban the possibility of same-sex marriage being legalized in the future).

(and a personal note: I've been involved in both of these bills, though only as webmaster for the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition for the last 6 months. I couldn't be at the actual vote in Trenton yesterday because my soon-to-be-previous-employer took me and my group out for drinks to celebrate me leaving.)

More news here:
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1073594942316270.xml