Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I have just read the final report of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, which recommends to Governor Corzine and the state legislators that you enact a bill now to allow same-sex couples to marry.

I plead with you to read the report, which is online at http://www.nj.gov/oag/dcr/curc.html

I strongly support the Commission's recommendation. I ask you to give same-sex couples the Freedom to Marry by enacting A2978/S1967, the "Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act."

I am particularly struck by the Commission's unanimity in making its recommendation. Far from having just LGBT community leaders, the Commission's 13 members include a right-to-life Republican, plus two clergy, plus six government officials representing an Administration that had opposed marriage equality in the courts.

According to the report, the civil union law "invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children. In a number of cases, the negative effect of the Civil Union Act on the physical and mental health of same-sex couples and their children is striking, largely because a number of employers and hospitals do not recognize the rights and benefits of marriage for civil union couples."

Some hospitals don't even allow civil union partners to visit one another or to make medical decisions for one another - the basic rights the rest of us take for granted.

The report continues: "The Commission is compelled to issue its final report now because of the overwhelming evidence that civil unions will not be recognized by the general public as the equivalent of marriage in New Jersey with the passage of time. Nearly a decade later, civil union couples in Vermont report the same obstacles to equality that New Jersey civil union couples face today."

I cannot accept the current economic crisis as an excuse not to act now to let same-sex couples marry. The report describes how the absence of a marriage equality statute deprives New Jersey's entire economy of considerable revenue.

"Spending on weddings and tourism could boost the New Jersey economy by approximately $248 million over three years," the report states. One expert who testified before the Commission estimates the figure could be $500 million or more.

Let's face it: Giving same-sex couples the freedom to marry affects nobody else's marriage. But it makes all the difference in the world to same-sex couples - and to their children who yearn for their parents to marry.

Please be in touch with me or with Garden State Equality at your earliest convenience. You may reach Garden State Equality at (973) GSE-LGBT.

Sincerely,