Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
TagsSupporters will try to get Governor Corzine to sign equality law before he leaves office
The clock is ticking for advocates of gay marriage legislation.
For the next two months — until Gov. Jon Corzine leaves office — supporters of a marriage equality bill will push to get the legislation through the state Assembly and Senate and onto the governor's desk.
Corzine has promised to sign the bill if it gets there. Governor-elect Chris Christie, however, has promised to veto the legislation if it arrives after he takes office on Jan. 19, 2010.
"There's a new urgency since Christie was elected" Tuesday, Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay-rights organization Garden State Equality, told app.com.
The state's position on gay partnerships has been evolving over the last five years. In 2004 New Jersey allowed gay and lesbian couples to enter into domestic partnerships, which included some of the benefits of marriage. In 2007 the state began allowing "civil unions" with the idea this provided all the benefits of marriage.
According to app.com, critics of civil unions argued that not all employers recognized "civil unions" as being equal to marriage, and withheld some benefits typically available to heterosexual married couples.
— ELIZABETH BIRGE, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
The American Psychological Association states that homosexuality and homosexual relationships are normal.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association have all endorsed civil marriage for same-sex couples because marriage strengthens the mental and physical health and the longevity of couples, and provides greater legal and financial security for children, parents and seniors.
When America’s premier child and mental health associations and their expert panels endorse marriage equality, there is thus no ethical reason to discriminate against gay people and their children.
The U.S. Census reveals that one-third of America’s same-sex families are raising children, with the same responsibilities of any American family, needing and deserving all the same financial, legal and social protections that current marriage laws provides.
Three percent of every generation of children from every culture will always realize that they are gay. The question that we need to ask ourselves is: what are we doing to make the world a safer and more welcoming place for them? To prevent bullying and to raise children ready for society, pediatricians say that we should teach children that same-sex marriage equals opposite-sex marriage because they need to know that all American families are equal in the eyes of the law.
Those associations have reviewed the research and made policy statements that are for the good of America. They represent more than 400,000 mental health and child health specialists. There are no divergent opinions from mainstream scientific organizations. All the published evidence says one thing: marriage is good for Americans, and that it should be availble to all American adults.
In fact, all the published evidence says one thing: marriage is good for Americans, and that it should be available to all American adults.