New Jersey civil union law draws criticism

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A study commission has found that New Jersey's year-old civil union law has failed to end discrimination against same-sex couples.

In a report due to be released Tuesday, the 12-member Civil Union Review Commission says employers are still discriminating against people in same-sex relationships and civil unions have created a "second-class status," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday.

The newspaper obtained a copy of the 21-page report that also says the law has had "a particularly disparate impact on people of color."

At hearings conducted by the commission, Lynn Fontaine Newsome, the president of the New Jersey State Bar Association, testified that lawyers faced "countless additional hours of work" in representing gays, lesbians, bisexual clients and their families."

The commission also heard from same-sex partners denied health insurance because of a provision in the federal "Defense of Marriage Act" that applies to about half of all companies operating in New Jersey.

Gov. John Corzine has said he would sign a gay marriage bill but did not want to do so this year.