Civil Unions In New Jersey

I wish people would wise up and relinquish their fear of the word "marriage," but nevertheless this is a positive development:

Civil unions (A-3787) passed with 56 votes in favor, 19 against and 5 abstentions in the Assembly and 23 - 12 - 5 in the Senate.

Also, New Jersey became the 9th state to pass transgender equality legislation today, by a 10-1 margin: (from Garden State Equality)

By a vote of 69-5 with six abstentions, the New Jersey Assembly has just passed a bill to outlaw discrimination against New Jersey's transgender citizens. The New Jersey State Senate passed the bill last Monday by a vote of 31-5. The combined vote in the two chambers was an historic 100 to 10, a ten-to-one margin that is the largest margin in American history by which a state legislture has passed a transgender equality law.

The new law will add a citizen's "gender identity or expression" as a basis for protection under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. Enactment of the new law has been a top priority for Garden State Equality, which has taken a number of bold measures to advance the bill; and for the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey, the statewide transgender organization.

Equality fights take decades of hard work and dedication, and often the outcomes are not good for long amounts of time. But we can clearly see actual results in the marriage equality debate. New Jersey is now the 5th state to have something approaching equality for same-sex couples, whether it's civil unions (Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey), domestic partnerships (California) or gay marriage (Massachusetts). I would say this is pretty far down the road in the short time where this has become a major national issue. It'll take a lot longer to have full civil rights for gay citizens as well as others (heck, the Supremes are likely to enact a slow-motion dismantling of Brown v. Board of Education in a few months).

For now, while it could be better, the New Jersey legislature did a good thing.