Continental promo
||  News  ||
 
12/30/06-01/01/07

N.J. officials told they must perform civil union ceremonies

New Jersey attorney general Stuart Rabner has issued an opinion stating that any state official performing marriage ceremonies must also now perform civil union ceremonies for same-sex couples. The opinion comes in light of a state superior court decision and subsequent legislation earlier this month giving gay couples the right to enter into civil unions beginning January 1.

"Either do marriages and civil unions, or do nothing," states John M. Carbone, an attorney representing county clerks and surrogates in all 21 New Jersey counties, in an internal memo obtained Wednesday by New Jersey's Bridgeton News.

The letter states that officials who perform marriage ceremonies but refuse to perform civil union ceremonies will be violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. This could result in removal from office as well as fines beginning at $10,000 for the first offense.

In a survey conducted last week by the News asking local mayors whether they would perform a civil union ceremony, only Fairfield Township mayor Craig Thomas said he would. Most other mayors would rather do nothing, saying their Christian beliefs prohibit them from endorsing same-sex relationships. (The Advocate)

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max. HTML formatting and hyperlinks are NOT permitted.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.

Error:Server capacity reached.
Error:Server capacity reached.
Error:Server capacity reached. Subscribe to the digital edition. Subscribe to the print edition.
Error:Server capacity reached.