Newark Mayor Corey Booker offered a rejoinder to Gov. Chris Christie’s call for a public referendum on marriage equality that should put an end to the argument once and for all.
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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.
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Hank Kalet 
I'm confident this will not put an end to the argument once and for all. Wishful thinking.Booker's heart is in the right place, but his facts are wrong. Same sex partners in a civil union do inherit from each other even without wills. Federal recognition of same sex marriage, by Social Security, the IRS, or Immigration, for example, will depend on repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, not on whether the term \”marriage\” is used instead of \”civil union\”. It may make it easier to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act if more states avoid offending religious groups by using the term \”marriage\” and instead using an analogous status such as \”civil union\” or \”domestic partnership\”, both of which exist in New Jersey. However, many same sex couples regard the terms civil union and domestic partnership as inherently unequal, and it can lead to confusion. New Jersey recognizes same sex marriages from NY, CT, and MA, any of which marries nonresidents, so marriage is available to same sex couples from NJ. It is a complicated issue. The politics are even more confusing. Senator Sweeney seems to feel very strongly on all sides of the issue.