Defending the Truth

yeah - civil unions are as good as marriage

NJ Gov. Attacks UPS Gay Benefits Position

Posted: July 22, 2007 - 10:00 am ET

(Trenton, New Jersey) New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine has accused United Parcel Service of disrespecting the Garden State in the company's refusal to provide the same-sex partners of its unionized workers with the same benefits its gives married partners.

New Jersey's civil unions law mandates that gay and lesbian couples who register must be treated in the same way as married opposite-sex couples.

Earlier this month UPS said that it could only provide the benefits to unionized gay employees if the health insurance and other benefits were part of its contracts with those unions. (story)

The company said it isn't anti-gay, pointing out it already provides spousal benefits to same-sex couples in Massachusetts where gay marriage is legal. But the company said a civil union isn't marriage and under its union contracts benefits are available only to legally married couples who are in the bargaining units.

Non-union employees who are in same-sex civil unions are covered, however, the company said. But it also pointed out that under federal law it is not required to recognize same-sex unions.

In a letter Friday to Michael Eskew the Chair and CEO of UPS, Corzine disputed the company claim that it would need to renegotiate contracts with its unions to provide benefits to same-sex couples.

"Surely, as a company with a long-standing commitment to its employees and the community, UPS would not want to make its employees and their families face these difficult choices based on the subtleties of the interaction of federal and state law," Corzine said in the letter.

UPS is the latest in a growing number of businesses in New Jersey refusing to provide spousal benefits to the same-sex partners of workers and LGBT civil rights advocates say it is yet another example of how the law, by not using the term marriage, isn't working.

Last month a commission to examine the effectiveness of the civil union law, created when the legislature passed the bill, was told the law is a failure. (story)

Garden State Equality, New Jersey's largest LGBT civil rights organization, says it has received over 190 complaints of companies not abiding by the law.

Nearly one in eight couples who have had civil unions have been turned down for company benefits the organization said.

"The problem," Garden State Equality said in a statement, "is that writing to companies won't solve the epidemic of inequality in New Jersey that the civil unions law has caused. The only way to fix a failed law is actually to fix the law."

It wants the legislature to amend the law and provide for same-sex marriage.

Last October the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples must have all the rights of marriage.

The Court gave the New Jersey State Legislature 180 days to act on the decision to grant same-sex couples the rights and benefits enjoyed by different-sex married couples but left it up to the legislators to decide whether to call it marriage or civil unions.

The legislature opted for civil unions and the law went into effect Feb. 19. Since then more than 1,300 same-sex couples have applied for civil union licenses

the bottom line:

"The company said it isn't anti-gay, pointing out it already provides spousal benefits to same-sex couples in Massachusetts where gay marriage is legal. But the company said a civil union isn't marriage and under its union contracts benefits are available only to legally married couples who are in the bargaining units."

gay couples must be married in order to have equal benefits for their families in the U.S.

sounds like you can't even grasp what the statement was

the company DOESN'T accept it - that's the point

Dude you are a freaking riot sometimes.

In light of this obvious and mean-spirited bait-and-switch routine, I'd like to hear a rational defense of UPS from the people here who say they favor civil unions and equal civil rights for gay people, who insist that civil unions are the same as marriage, and whose only objection to gay marriage is the use of the term "marriage."

This cannot continue. Clearly, to avoid 2nd-class treatment like this, a civil union will not do. We are going to have to insist on gay marriage, and accept no substitutes.