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A new report details the failure of our civil union law. It's time for marriage equality now.
The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, the state government agency charged with evaluating the effectiveness of New Jersey's civil union law, has just issued its formal report coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the law.
The report details how the civil union law has denied equality to same-sex couples - and instead has brought legal, financial and emotional suffering to them and their children. According to the report, the law's consequences range from the psychological harm children suffer when they realize their parents have a lesser status than married, to a couple for whom the law’s failure to provide equality is forcing them to think about dissolving their civil union.
The report states that "the term 'marriage,' were it applied to the relationships of same-sex couples, would make a significant difference in providing equality to same-sex couples in New Jersey, even with the challenges of federal law not recognizing same-sex relationships."
New Jersey's civil union law is one of the biggest failures in the history of civil rights in America. In this action alert, we at Garden State Equality ask you to write to Governor Corzine and your state legislators, telling them that you want to see a real marriage equality law now. They must not wait. The people are suffering. Justice delayed is justice denied.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: A commission report details the failure of our civil union law. Please enact marriage equality now.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission just issued a sweeping report detailing how the civil union law has denied equality to same-sex couples - and instead, has brought legal, financial and emotional harm to them and their children.
I am in disbelief that New Jersey might go one day further than necessary to scrap the failing civil union law and replace it with real equality through a marriage equality statute. Justice delayed is justice denied. Letting same-sex couples marry won't affect anyone else's marriage one iota.
I ask you to support marriage equality legislation. If you're unconvinced, I ask you to visit a new website from Garden State Equality, www.CivilUnionsDontWork.com.
There you can watch videos of nearly 100 civil union couples and others describe how many employers in New Jersey refuse to recognize civil unions because civil unions are not marriage.
At www.CivilUnionsDontWork.com, watch civil union couples describe living without adequate health care and economic security. Watch civil union couples describe how hospitals have tried to prevent visitation by one partner of the other, because the hospitals don't respect civil unions like marriage. It's all happening in New Jersey. It's heartbreaking.
According to the new Commission report - which you can also access at www.CivilUnionsDontWork.com - the discrimination faced by civil union couples will likely not get better with the passage of time. Vermont enacted its civil union law in 2000, and numerous Vermont civil union couples still face many of the problems New Jersey civil union couples do today.
As the report describes, it's not true that New Jersey can do nothing about the federal law loophole that allows many employers not to recognize same-sex relationships. Far fewer employers in Massachusetts, where same-sex couples can marry, choose to invoke federal law. The term "marriage" has persuasive weight that the term "civil union" does not.
The civil union law is failing. The people are hurting. The evidence is shocking. New Jersey is in the midst of a discrimination crisis. I ask you to enact real marriage equality today.
Sincerely,
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