The proposed civil unions bill passed the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee at the end of its hearing today: Lambda Legal Calls Civil Unions Discriminatory
‘The discriminatory bill is 63 pages long all to avoid the one word that does the job — marriage.’
Lisa Hardaway, Lambda Legal

(Trenton, New Jersey, December 7, 2006) — At the conclusion of the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing today on Assembly Bill A3787, a civil union bill, the members voted to send the measure to the full Assembly for a floor vote.

Lambda Legal, the organization representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit which resulted in the New Jersey Supreme Court decision in October, called the measure discriminatory.

“If passed, this huge civil union bill will become one of the largest forms of statutory discrimination ever created by the New Jersey Legislature,” said David Buckel, Marriage Project Director at Lambda Legal and lead attorney on the New Jersey marriage lawsuit. “The discriminatory bill is 63 pages all to avoid the one word that does the job—marriage.”

“There can only be one reason for this bill, and that is to say that same-sex couples’ relationships are unworthy of marriage. The Court gave the legislature 180 days to do it right—let’s not rush and do it wrong,” added Buckel.

In its October decision the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously found that same-sex couples in New Jersey must have equal protection under the law and be granted the rights and responsibilities of marriage, but gave the legislature the opportunity to correct the violation...

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"Ignoring the pleas of same-sex couples the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee approved a bill granting civil unions to gay and lesbian couples, voting to send the measure to the full Assembly for a floor vote."
via 365gay.com

ALSO: NJ Lawmakers Begin Debate on Gay Marriage Bill (WFMZ-TV, PA.)