Still Held: NJ's Civil Union Story

by: Jeff Gardner

Thu May 31, 2007 at 12:28:43 PM EDT

There were tears of anger as we relived the Ocean County Freeholders' stonewalling. There were tears of joy when the film depicted Laurel's dramatic victory over intolerance. And of course, there were tears of sadness as we relived Lt. Hester's and her partner Stacie's personal tragedy.

Cynthia Wade deserves much praise for creating this documentary, which moved me beyond expectations. I was thrilled to learn during the panel discussion that followed that the film will be made available for additional New Jersey screenings. Having watched it last night, there are so many people I want to bring to see it. It was that good.

But, something else the audience learned in that panel discussion was also heartbreaking. After all Lt. Hester fought for, ultimately leading to the NJ Supreme Court's decision last fall in favor of "equal" rights for all couples - we learned the fight is still not over. There are still couples out there who are being denied justice, and at least one of those couples was a plaintiff in the NJ marriage case.

Sadly, not good. Not good at all.

Last night, two of the audience members at the Freeheld screening were Saundra Toby-Heath and the Reverend Alicia Heath-Toby - plaintiffs in the NJ Supreme Court case that led to the civil union law that was supposed to grant all the state rights of marriage, but without the name. They were among several couples in attendance who came forward to announce that their civil unions aren't being recognized by their employers.

In their case, Saundra's employer - a Fortune 500 Company - has refused to add the Reverend to Saundra's health insurance. Why? Because they don't recognize "civil unions."

And they are far from alone. In the first 90 days of New Jersey's civil unions law, the state reported that 852 couples got civil unioned. During those same 90 days, 102 of those newly "civil-unioned" couples across New Jersey have reported to Garden State Equality that their employers and insurers refuse to recognize their civil unions.

That is a stunning 1 out of 8 civil unions failing to provide the same benefits as marriage - and that's just those couples who have actually come forward to report the problems they've encountered, a number which is almost certainly lower than the real figure. The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights is averaging upwards of 90 calls per month from couples citing the same problem - that employers and insurers who refuse to recognize their civil unions.

If New Jersey recognized Saundra and Reverend Alicia's relationship as marriage, there would be no more of this OC-Freeholder-style stonewalling about language. Employers would have to either grant all married couples the same benefits, or they would need to admit that they were refusing solely because the employee was gay.

And so the fight continues.