Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

New Jersey civil union law draws criticism

|
|
 
  
Published: Feb. 18, 2008 at 11:02 AM

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.

Topics: John Corzine
Recommended Stories
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
Ugly ass baby giraffe born in Southern Illinois zoo. Adorable pictures "я" us
If your neighbors ask if you and your wife are into swapping and suggest having a swapping party...
It's a lie
The hot new baffling non sequitur: Marrying yourself, complete with vows and ceremony. Subby is...
Hutt robbery "cowardly." Oh, so I suppose hiring intergalactic bounty hunters is the paragon of...
Across America, more and more cities are trying to regulate garage sales. In other news, some people...