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Article: N.J. Civil Unions Hung Up on 'Marriage'
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- December 6, 2006
CopyrightCopyright 2006 Associated Press/AP Online. This material is published under license from the publisher through YellowBrix, Alexandria, Virginia. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to YellowBrix. (Hide copyright information)
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MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - In inheritance, health insurance, parental rights and virtually everything else but name, gay couples in New Jersey would be treated the same as married couples under a bill introduced this week.
The bill to authorize civil unions refers to couples not as "spouses" but as "parties," language the head of the state's main gay rights group considers "putrid."
The legislation filed late Monday and made available to the public Tuesday is the response of key Democratic lawmakers to the state Supreme Court's ruling in October that New Jersey must extend all privileges of marriage to gay couples within 180 days.
The court, in a 4-3 ruling, did not mandate that the unions ...