Gay Rights New Jersey

You better hurry up and make a dental appointment.

Just to clarify, the NJ Supreme Court has ruled that gay couples are entitled to the same rights as other married couples and has left it up to the NJ legislature to either enact law allowing gays to marry or to make provision for some type of civil union.

So basically, it is a victory for both sides (more so for the gay marriage lobby), but opens to possibility that the NJ legislators to create a civil union contract that would give the same rights as marriage. If they take this route, it will be less than what gay marriage activists want. But I think this is the way to go for those who want gay marriage. I've stated repeatedly here that a civil union not called marriage would receive much more support than pushing for gay marriage or nothing.

I can't imagine that this will be seen as any kind of victory for the religious right anti-marriage folks.

This isn't a total victory... but it is another significant step in the march toward marriage equality.

I'm sure the religious right won't see this as a victory per se. But they can at least grab hold to the fact the the court did not decide that gays could marry, only that they were entitled to the same benefits that marriage gives. Of course, they still won't be happy. But I doubt this is the last word in any case. (And just to make a small correction, they are anti-gay marriage, not anti-marriage. Not that you care about properly characterizing them, I am sure)

Let's not play word games here Coastal. The fight for equal marriage rights is about legal rights-- not about what to call them.

If the government said that gay couples could have something called "Foobalage" that was equal in every way to a marriage (including wills, health care, legal rights and parenting rights)-- progressives would be very happy and the religious right would be very unhappy.

This is not a fight about what to call equal rights-- it is a fight were one side wants rights that the other side wants to prevent.

A religious right argument that said -- we will give you equal rights as long as the legal certificate that guaranteed it didn't have the word "marriage" on it would be silly (especially since no one cares what is written on this legal document and couples will call it what they want anyway).

The religious right is saying no to the legal rights implicit in marriage. The word is irrelevant (and I think you know that).