NJ DP Registrations Begin in South Orange, Maplewood

July 10, 2004

After 10 years with her partner, Cathy Schenone is glad finally to be covered by Michele Tollefson's health insurance plan at work. And if one of the women is ever hospitalized, as of Saturday the other will be able to make critical decisions for her care.

Schenone and Tollefson were among several hundred people who attended a morning ceremony marking the first day of New Jersey's domestic partnership law. Many said they consider the law a symbolic, incremental step toward marriage, yet gained important benefits they had gone without.

It kind of validates that we've been together 10 years and deserve the same rights as everyone else, said Schenone, 40, of Wanaque.

Many people arrived hours early, sitting on the municipal building's steps or on lawn chairs while filling out domestic partnership applications. As part of the ceremony, couples joined in singing This Land is Your Land.

This is a very great day in New Jersey civil rights history, said Mayor Fred Profeta. The civil rights achieved here today are very important — let no one doubt that.

After completing their paperwork, couples drew numbers to determine their place in a line; forms then had to be notarized and filed with a registrar. More than 250 couples had registered in Maplewood by day's end, officials said.

Many came with children in tow to Saturday's event, including Hilery Kipnis and her partner of 13 years, Kimberly Miller. Twenty-one-month-old twins Georgia and Esther joined their 5-year-old sister, Beatrice, who donned a crown of flowers.

What it means to us is that people recognize we're here, said Kipnis, who planned an afternoon party with friends, relatives and neighbors to mark their domestic partnership.

The law, passed in January, grants some legal rights to registered couples, including the ability to make medical decisions for each other.

It allows partners to have some joint rights in filing state taxes, to be exempt from state inheritance taxes in the case of a partner's death and to extend the benefits given to state employees to cover domestic partners.

The law forces insurance companies to offer the options of including same-sex partners. However, employers can still opt not to offer coverage.

The law also covers unmarried heterosexual couples ages 62 and older. It does not legalize gay marriage and offers far fewer rights than those given to heterosexual married couples.

To register, couples must bring government-issued identification and show proof of shared financial assets to a municipal registrar's office. There is no waiting period.

Many attending Saturday's ceremony wore buttons reading The Next Step: Marriage Equality.

New Jersey is the fifth state in the nation to officially recognize same-sex coupling. In April, Maine's governor signed a bill creating domestic partnerships there.

Domestic partner benefits have been granted in California and Hawaii. Vermont has approved civil unions and Massachusetts recently legalized same-sex marriage.

Catholic and conservative groups have raised objections to the New Jersey law, but so far no lawsuits have been filed to block it.

The South Orange clerk's office opened at 12:01 a.m. Saturday to register couples. Christopher Bellis waited late into the night to be among the first in the state to sign up.

He and his partner, Eddie Bennett, had stood in front of family and friends eight years ago in a commitment ceremony.

am hoping by the time we get to our 10th anniversary, we'll be able to get married, Bellis, 40, of South Orange, said from the municipal building steps in Maplewood.