MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. – 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 allows same-sex unions, do not experience some of the legal complications those in New Jersey do.
State lawmakers made New Jersey the third state to offer civil unions with a law adopted in 2006 in reaction to a state Supreme Court ruling that year that found gay couples were entitled to the same legal protections as married couples.
The commission held three public hearings last year at which the majority of the testimony came from people who were in civil unions and said they were not being treated the way married couples are by government agencies, employers and others.
For instance, the commission found that many companies in the state that are self-insured – and therefore are regulated by federal rather than state law – refuse to provide health insurance to the partners of their employees.
While employers in Massachusetts could legally do the same thing, most do not, the report says.
Some social conservatives have said the commission is slanted in favor of allowing gay marriage, and opponents of gay marriage have been fighting back in New Jersey.
