Given an order by the court, the NJ lawmakers have approved a measure to allow Civil Unions, but have reserved the word marriage for traditional marriage.

Ordered by New Jersey’s highest court to offer marriage or its equivalent to gay couples, the Legislature voted Thursday to make New Jersey the third state to allow civil unions.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign the measure, which would extend to same-sex couples all the rights and privileges available under state law to married people. The bill passed the Assembly 56-19 and the Senate 23-12.

"Love counts," Democratic Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, a chief sponsor of the bill, said as the debate opened. "The gender of whom one loves should not matter to the state."

News to you Wilfredo, but love is not the issue in a lot of marriages.  But never mind that for now….

Massachusetts is the only state to allow gay marriage. Vermont and Connecticut have civil unions, and California has domestic partnerships that work similarly. Since 2004 New Jersey has had a more limited version of domestic partnerships.

Among the benefits gay couples would get under New Jersey’s civil unions bill are adoption rights, hospital visitation rights and inheritance rights. Officials could begin granting civil unions 60 days after the governor signs the legislation; Corzine did not say when he would do so.

I would note that all the above could be conferred by other means, but honestly I support civil unions.

But the reservation of the label marriage has caused its own issues:

Gay rights groups have argued that not calling such unions "marriage" creates a different, and inferior, institution. But they welcomed Thursday’s legislation as a step toward gaining the right to marry.

Until the federal laws change to recognize same sex unions, that is a pointless objection.  And until we take the government out of marriage altogether, there will always be this conflict between morals and legal rights, as I have noted here and here.

To be sure, let’s not blame Sasha, she had no idea about it and was apparently "stunned" when she found out.

This is just another example of an official taking preemptive action when none was required, correcting imaginary wrongs and soothing unruffled feathers.

Pretty bad when the officials are idiots and their implied victims have more sense.

When did Christmas Carols become such a problem for crying out loud? 

 Olympic skater Sasha Cohen "stunned" by Xmas flap

Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen was "stunned" to learn that a U.S. high school choir had been ordered to stop singing Christmas carols at a holiday show because she is half-Jewish, her mother said on Thursday.

A city official accompanied by a police officer caused a stir by silencing the carols on Tuesday night as Cohen signed autographs after a performance in Riverside, California.

Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge has since apologized to the student choir, the Rubidoux High School Madrigals.

Well that’s something.

To some, the incident appeared an example of excessive political correctness in the United States over the celebration of Christmas — which some conservative commentators have characterized as a "war on Christmas.’

Ya think?  The fact is that this happens a lot these days as everyone pretends there is some great sensitivity issue at stake here.

The fact is that the average person could care less.

Cohen, who is half-Christian and "celebrates everything" during the holidays, learned only through news reports that the choir had been cut off on her account, the 22-year-old skater’s mother and manager said.

"Sasha was stunned. We both thought the voices were just lovely, they were doing such a wonderful job," Galina Cohen told Reuters. "Christmas carols are part of celebrating the holiday season."

Exactly.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper reported that the Madrigals had just launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" when a city special-events employee told them to stop singing.

Cohen’s mother said the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and U.S. National Champion had taken part in Christmas tree lighting ceremonies at New York’s Rockefeller Center and in California.