What’s in a name?

Apparently everything.

The Record today offers a plausible explanation for the low number of civil unions in the month since the new civil union law took effect.

The low turnout speaks volumes about the Legislature’s decision to not allow same-sex couples to marry. Same-sex couples are not excited about being civil-unionized. And that is not surprising.

While civil unions in New Jersey afford couples all the legal rights of marriage, it remains a second-class-citizen demarcation. If it is marriage, call it marriage. It is doubtful that heterosexual couples would find it romantic to say: “I love you. Let’s get unionized.”

Advocates for same-sex marriage believe if the Legislature had opted for marriage rather than civil unions, thousands of same-sex couples would have wed by now.

The same-sex couples I’ve talked with want marriage, but have taken advantage of the law to protect themselves.

I hope the Legislature doesn’t view the numbers in the wrong way.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet