It's wonderful and long overdue," said Thomas Mannix, a gay man in Asbury Park, N.J. Mannix and his partner, Kevin Pilla, were interviewed by the press and videotaped by local television stations as they completed their application for civil union shortly after midnight on Monday. Only the state of Massachusetts allows gay couples the same full rights as heterosexual married couples. Three states; California, Hawaii and Maine, and the District of Columbia allow domestic partnerships. Vermont and Connecticut are the only two other states besides New Jersey that allow civil unions between same-sex couples.
One of the issues that arose after the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision in Varnum v. Brien, which held that Iowa’s Constitution would not permit Iowa to limit the institution of marriage to opposite-sex couples, regards how the state should treat different types of same-sex unions from other states. Some of the most interesting and important concerns center around the status Iowa will give to out-of-state civil unions and domestic partnerships, relationships that receive legal recognition but are not true marriages in their states of origin. Since federal law (the Full Faith and Credit Clause and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act) and choice-of-law principles allow Iowa to recognize out-of-state, same-sex relationships, Iowa courts and legislators must now look to statutory l...
..., same-sex couples that are party to a New Jersey civil union have “the same benefits, protections...
MOUNT LAUREL A commission established to study same-sex civil unions in New Jersey has found in its first report that civil unions create a "second-class status" for gay couples rather than giving them equality. The report stops short of recommending that the state allow gay marriage. But it does find that gay couples in Massachusetts, the only state that now allows gay marriage, do not experience some of the legal complications that those in New Jersey do.
AS EXPECTED from a panel stacked with same-sex activists, the Civil Union Commission issued a report last week saying that its members believe civil unions are a failure. What is their conclusion based on? Seven substantive complaints from among the 2,400 same-sex couples who have entered into civil unions in New Jersey. They complain about the failure of New Jersey employers based out of state to provide benefits to partners in civil unions. Those companies say that the federal Employment Retirement Income Security Act, which regulates the provision of benefits to employees, does not require them to provide expensive health benefits to same-sex couples.
The California constitution provides similar guarantees. The California Supreme Court, the institution charged with construing the California constitution to ensure that it applies to all Californians equally, recognized the importance of these guarantees in its decision in the marriage cases. As the Court explained: "[A]ffording same-sex couples the opportunity to obtain the designation of marriage will not impinge upon the religious freedom of any religious organization, official, or any other person; no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs. When New Jersey adopted civil unions for same-sex couples in ...
The battle between New Jersey advocates for gay marriage and their opponents heated up Wednesday in the wake of decisions in Vermont and Iowa to allow same-sex couples to marry. Gay rights groups here said the Vermont Legislature's vote Tuesday to override a veto by that state's governor and allow same- sex marriage added fuel to their mission to pass a same-sex marriage bill in New Jersey this year. They argued that civil unions, which granted New Jersey couples the legal benefits of marriage in 2006, failed to guarantee the legitimacy and fair treatment the word "marriage" would ensure.
Because the federal government doesn't recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions as having the same rights and responsibilities as opposite-sex married couples, they're not going to give any [tax] benefits," she says. "So you're not any kind of relation according to the [federal] government and you're going to pay a higher tax. WHEN CIVIL UNIONS became legal for same-sex couples in New Jersey last year, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community celebrated a hard-won victory. Stephanie Canas Hunnell, a lawyer in Belmar, says same-sex partners in civil unions should create what is called a dummy form with the state when filing their federal estate taxes because the federal government doesn't recognize same-sex unions.
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - At least 219 gay couples applied to join in civil unions during the first month the legal institution was available in New Jersey, a state agency said in a report issued Tuesday. Civil unions offer gay couples the legal benefits of marriage - but not the title. New Jersey lawmakers created the institution last December in response to a state Supreme Court ruling two months earlier that said it was unconstitutional to deny gay couples access to the protections of marriage.
IT'S A SIGN of progress that part of the debate over civil unions in New Jersey involves words and symbols about equal relationships and not rights and protections for committed same-sex couples. The proposed Civil Unions bill (S-2407) that I am co-sponsoring with Senate President Richard Codey would provide same-sex couples with all the rights of heterosexual marriage as mandated by the October ruling of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) -- At least 219 gay couples applied to join in civil unions during the first month the legal institution was available in New Jersey, a state agency said in a report issued Tuesday. Civil unions offer gay couples the legal benefits of marriage -- but not the title. New Jersey lawmakers created the institution last December in response to a state Supreme Court ruling two months earlier that said it was unconstitutional to deny gay couples access to the protections of marriage.
ver las páginas en versión mobile | web
ver las páginas en versión mobile | web
© Copyright 2012, vLex. All Rights Reserved.
Contents in vLex United States
Explore vLex
For Professionals
For Partners
Company
Other interesting searches:
Fatih Çekirge | Harry Liu | Rudy Tomjanovich | Espíritu Santo | kristina mcalister | andres segovia | dra vanessa fiore | permisos de gobernacion | funcionario interino | architecture maison
