It's Official in New Jersey

Well, New Jersey was quick if not complete. The legislature passed a civil-union bill in under two months following a court order mandating marriage equality. Today, Governor Jon Corzine signed it into law.

This certainly was a fair leap in the right direction. Yet, it is bound to annoy many and inspire them to further action.

Garden State Equality folk want and pledge to work for full marriage. On the other side, the AP article found one group deluding itself into imagining a repeal:

''It's same-sex marriage without the title,'' said John Tomicki, president of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage. ''It uproots the cardinal values of our culture.''He said opponents would push for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex unions in New Jersey, no matter what they're called.

Fat chance, John-o. The situation in Jersey is very similar to that here, and in fact, apparently partially responding to the lack of problems following full marriage legalization in Massachusetts. In New Jersey the vast majority of voters favor marriage equality. If the legislators had had just a bit more guts, they would have gone the simpler way and expanded marriage to be gender neutral.

In the accompanying AP photo of the signing, Corzine signed the civil-union law while Garden State Equality CEO Steven Goldstein hugged Senator Loretta Weinberg.

The Northeast is shaping up to be quite a thumb in the eye of America, or at least the anti-gay portions.

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Tags: massmarrier, New Jersey, same sex marriage, civil unions