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Law gives gays little things
that will mean a lot
By Judy Peet AND
Mark Mueller, Star-Ledger Staff,
Friday, January 09,
2003
Steven Goldstein watched from a state Senate gallery in Trenton yesterday as lawmakers passed the Domestic Partnership Act, a provision granting broad new protections to gay couples as well as opposite-sex couples over age 62.
Today, an elated Goldstein said, he will begin the process of moving to New Jersey. The Brooklyn resident predicted he will not be alone.
"I think you'll see an influx of gay and lesbian couples from both New York and Pennsylvania to a state where they can count on basic rights," said Goldstein, who lobbied relentlessly for the law on behalf of Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay advocacy group.
"It's the coming of age of the power of the gay and lesbian community in New Jersey," he said.
Goldstein's euphoria over the measure, which Gov. James E. McGreevey has pledged to sign quickly, was typical of the reaction among gay and lesbian couples.
Heterosexual couples who fall under the law's purview were more muted in their response, in part because there has been little, if anything, in the way of a rallying cry for the measure within that constituency.
AARP, the nation's largest senior advocacy group, took no position on the law and declined to comment on its passage yesterday.
"I don't know if I need the law, but I know I like it," said Bernard Kransdorf, 83, a retired railroad conductor who has been living in Montclair with his girlfriend, 89-year-old Fay Leviton, for 13 years. "We are partners, and we do deserve the right to look after each other."
Even so, Kransdorf said, domestic partnership cannot compete with what he considers more pressing issues for seniors, namely Social Security and Medicare.
There was no such ambiguity among gays and lesbians, who said the law, while falling short of legalizing gay marriage, provides important new protections.
Once in effect, the law will grant partners many of the legal rights now afforded to spouses. They include hospital visitation, permission to make emergency medical decisions and the ability to claim each other as exemptions on state income tax filings. The law also allows domestic partners to qualify for exemptions from inheritance taxes.
"It's taken a long time to get here, but I'm very glad the state has gotten to this point," said Richard Andriola, 52, a Kearny resident who has been in a same-sex relationship for more than a decade. "To get some of the protections that married couples get is a very big step and a very big relief. It makes me happy to be a New Jerseyan."
For some couples, the law's biggest advantage -- and perhaps most emotional one -- is the provision that allows hospital visitation and medical decision-making by partners, who traditionally have been turned away because they are not legal spouses.
"Hospital visitation may not sound like much, but if you've ever been stopped from seeing someone you love so dearly at the time of their greatest need, it's extremely painful," said Stephen Mershon, a Maplewood resident who represents the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition. "We've all worked very hard for this, and it's a major advance."
Jean Shoulter, 67, a retired jeweler from Ocean Grove, would like her partner, 68-year-old Nancy Larson, to be at her side when she dies. Shoulter also wants Larson to have the authority to carry out her final wishes.
Among the most important of those wishes, Shoulter said, is that her body be donated to science, a request she said her daughter has flatly refused to carry out. Now, Shoulter said, she needn't worry.
"I cried when the bill passed," Shoulter said. "This is a great day for us. It's not about replacing marriage, but about deciding who will be your next of kin."
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