New Jersey voters
wouldn't object if the state legislature upgraded its
six-month-old civil union law to full marriage equality,
according to a Zogby poll released Wednesday by Garden
State Equality.
Sixty-three
percent of New Jersey voters said they would be fine with
lawmakers enacting same-sex marriage, according to the poll
taken August 8-10.
An even larger
number, nearly 72%, said lawmakers would not lose their
jobs over the issue "because people care about other issues
more," pollsters found.
The poll,
conducted by Zogby for the gay rights organization,
anticipates Sunday's six-month anniversary of the
civil union law.
Respondents were
asked their feelings on marriage equality in two
slightly different ways, Garden State Equality said, in
order to guide activists' phrasing of the issue.
When voters were
asked, "Do you agree or disagree that New Jersey
should give gay couples the same freedom to marry as
heterosexual couples?" 48% supported marriage equality
and 45% opposed it.
But when voters
were asked to choose between same-sex marriage, civil
unions, or no partnership rights, the same 48% of voters
supported marriage equality, only 30% supported civil
unions but no more, and 20% supported neither option.
"The difference
between the two questions may have been the concept of
marriage for gay couples hurting the institution of
marriage, the primary argument of marriage-equality
opponents that New Jersey voters clearly reject,"
Equality said in a written statement.
Lawmakers created
the civil unions after a state supreme court ruling in
October requiring New Jersey to provide rights equal to
marriage for gay and lesbian residents. But couples
report difficulty claiming benefits, including a
United Parcel Service worker and her partner who, with an
assist from Gov. John Corzine, successfully challenged the
shipper's refusal to extend partner health coverage it
normally reserved for "spouses."
The poll of 803
New Jersey voters has a margin of error of 3.5%, Zogby
said.
In the latest
example of the civil unions dilemma, a state appeals court
ruled Thursday that a lesbian couple who wed in Canada in
2004 and subsequently entered into a New Jersey
domestic partnership are not entitled to file joint
income taxes for 2006.
Roslyn Quarto and
Judith Prichason, being legally married in Canada, were
automatically recognized as civil union partners under the
New Jersey law, the Newark Star-Ledger
reported.
The court,
however, ruled that "because [their] Canadian marriage was
not legally recognized by statute in New Jersey as a civil
union until February 19, 2007, [they] are being
treated no differently than a truly similarly situated
heterosexual married couple." Straight couples married
in 2007 cannot file joint returns for money they earned in
2006, the court ruled.
Judge Edwin Stern
concurred but filed a separate opinion expressing
reservations about denying the couple's rights. "I find this
to be a denial of equal protection under the New
Jersey constitution," the Star-Ledger quoted Stern as
writing. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
