N.J. couples learn civil union laws don’t ensure benefits

Tumbleweed · Black Ops Joined: 02 Jul 2007 Posts: 3687 votes: 3

It seems New Jersey's new civil union couples are already facing hurdles.

Quote:

When New Jersey became the first state outside liberal New England to approve same-sex civil unions, Craig Ross and Richard Cash were among the hundreds of couples who hurried to get their licenses. With Cash unemployed and his private health insurance costing $480 a month, the couple hoped the new law would be their financial white knight — compelling Ross’s employer to give his partner the same spousal benefits as heterosexual married couples.

But more than four months after New Jersey’s civil union law went into effect, Ross, 46 and Cash, 54, are among the many same-sex couples severely disillusioned with their prospects for legal equality. Citing federal regulations that allow many employers to effectively ignore state laws regarding corporate benefits, the Fortune 500 company where Ross has worked as a computer specialist for 21 years denied the couple’s request for joint coverage.

“I feel beaten up and deflated,” said Ross, who asked that his company’s name be withheld out of concern for his job. “Everyone celebrated when this thing passed because we thought it would be equal to marriage, that the only thing different would be that we called it `civil unions.’ But civil unions aren’t giving us the legal rights we hoped for.”

Source
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Segep · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:20 pm Post subject:

We have domestic partnerships here in CA. When I asked to get benefits for my partner, I was fired two days later. I filed a complaint, but they said there wasn't enough evidence.
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Tumbleweed · Black Ops Joined: 02 Jul 2007 Posts: 3687 votes: 3

I feel bad for anyone caught up in this screwed up system. These are loved ones , just like any other family member, and they shoud be treated as such.IMO.
_________________
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
Thomas Paine

It's impossible to be an effective leader of a country when everyone thinks you are stupid.

dragonsoul101 · Civilian Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Posts: 4

Why is it that I can’t marry the one I love? The answer is because that is a special right only for the strait couples A.K.A. the first class citizens. We where taught to think of this country as the home of equality and freedom, only to grow up to find out that it is all a lie. For the most part the ideals of this country are grate, if only we would start putting them in to practice for everyone.