furrbear | From the "As If We Didn't Already Know That Dept"...

From Towleroad:

NJ Report: 'Overwhelming Evidence' Civil Unions Inferior to Marriage
In February I posted about a report put together by the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission that was causing governor Jon Corzine to have doubts about the effectiveness of civil unions in achieving equal rights for the state's citizens.

Yesterday, the final report was released:

"The final report of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission says it gathered 'overwhelming evidence' that the civil union law not only fails to provide the same protections as marriage, it also has created economic, medical and emotional hardships for gay couples. The commission concluded that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is as unjust as government imposing racial segregation laws against African-Americans. 'Separate treatment was wrong then and it is just as wrong now,' said the report, obtained by The Star-Ledger yesterday. The 79-page report is the work of a 13-member panel created to evaluate the impact of the 2006 civil union law, which was supposed to provide the rights and responsibilities of marriage under another name. It will be forwarded to Gov. Jon Corzine and the Legislature."