New Jersy passes civil unions.

The New Jersey state legislature has approved civil unions for gay couples. The New Jersey Senate voted 23 to 12 to approve the measure and the General Assembly voted 56 to 19 to do so as well. Governor Jon Corzine has said he will sign the legislation.

A spokesman for Equality New Jersey was not satisfied saying “there was no guarantee non-government entities would honor the decision.” But private people should not be forced to do so. Government, on the other hand, must grant equal protection under the law. So all legislation for gay couples ought to be the same as for different-sex couples but what the private sector does ought to remain private.

Vermont and Connecticut already have civil unions and Massachusetts has gay marriage. In the same vein Canada’s parliament recently killed a move that would have repealed gay marriage there and it is now assumed that repeal efforts are dead and gay marriage is permanent. South Africa’s parliament also recently passed gay marriage by 230 to 41 vote.