New Jersey civil-unions law presents challenge for state's Episcopal
bishops: Enactment follows years of debate, lawsuits
Episcopal News Service
By: Mary Frances Schjonberg
Posted: Saturday, March 03, 2007

After more than five years of debate, a bill offering same-gender
couples the right to enter into "civil unions" in the state of New
Jersey went into effect at midnight February 19. New Jersey is the
third U.S. state to offer civil unions, after Connecticut and Vermont.
Massachusetts permits same-gender marriage.

That was just about the same time that the Primates of the Anglican
Communion said in a communiqué at the conclusion of their meeting near
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that the Episcopal Church has until September
30 to "make an unequivocal common covenant that the bishops will not
authorize any Rite of Blessing for same-sex unions in their dioceses
or through General Convention ... unless some new consensus on these
matters emerges across the Communion."

Meanwhile, civil partnerships have been legal in England since
December 2005, and the Church of England addressed the law at that
time. Some Canadian provinces began allowing gay marriage in 2003, and
a countrywide law took effect in mid-2005. The Anglican Church of
Canada's General Synod voted in 2004 to defer a decision of the
church's stance until its June 2007 meeting.

In New Jersey, an experienced diocesan bishop and one with less than a
month under his mitre have had to consider their stances on
same-gender blessings, in light of the convergence of the two events.

The Rt. Rev. George Councell, who became bishop of the Diocese of New
Jersey in 2003, and the Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith, who was consecrated
bishop of the Diocese of Newark on January 27 this year, have both
said that neither event will alter their dioceses' basic stance toward
same-gender blessings.

Councell cited in his address to the diocesan convention's 223rd
annual meeting March 2 two stories on the front page of the February
20 edition of the New York Times chronicling the enactment of the New
Jersey law and the issuance of the communiqué. The juxtaposition of
the two articles "speaks volumes about the moment in which we find
ourselves in this Diocese, this Church and the Communion," he said.

New Jersey couples lined up the night of February 18-19 at some state
and municipal offices waiting for the moment when they could apply for
the license that would give them the same rights and responsibilities
as married couples. Just like their heterosexual counterparts, people
with a civil-union license must wait 72 hours before having the
license signed.

Many gay and lesbian couples had services in various locations
beginning at midnight on February 22. Some couples who had received
similar licenses in other states and countries staged New Jersey
civil-union ceremonies of various kinds during the first 72 hours of
the law's life because the waiting period was waived for them.

In the days leading up to the law's initiation, churches and ministers
of many denominations received phone calls from gay and lesbian
couples inquiring about their policies on same-gender blessings. The
law says that if the two parties desire both a civil and a religious
civil-union ceremony, the civic licensing officer issues a license in
duplicate, marking one as "issued for civil marriage or civil union
ceremony" and one as "issued for religious marriage or civil union
ceremony."

One such religious service took place at Church of the Redeemer in
Morristown in the Diocese of Newark on February 24 for Maureen Kilian
and Cindy Meneghin, one of seven gay and lesbian couples who sued the
State of New Jersey in 2003 for the right to be married. (The lead
plaintiffs in the suit, Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow, are Episcopal
priests.)

"Their life together, I have to tell you, is the most traditional life
I have ever seen," the Rev. Phillip Dana Wilson, Redeemer's rector,
said of Kilian and Meneghin during his sermon.

Newark bishop considers policy

Beckwith said February 23 that he will appoint a task force on
same-gender blessings to look at issues of process and format. The
task force's effort will be similar to the one convened in the Diocese
of Vermont, where that state passed a civil-unions bill in the spring
of 2000. The 46-page report, available here, outlines the history of
the issue in the diocese and its current policy.

In his statement posted on the diocese's website, Beckwith said he has
not "fully digested" both the Primates' communiqué and Presiding
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's initial reflections on the document.

"Moreover, given that I am new to my role, I am not ready to make a
public statement -- yet," Beckwith wrote. "I feel that I need to first
meet my new colleagues in the House of Bishops -- and get a sense of
the dynamics and desires of that group."

The Rev. Sandye Wilson, a diocesan spokesperson, said Beckwith also
wants to discuss the issues with diocesan clergy in a previously
scheduled gathering in late March.

"That said," Beckwith's statement continues, "I agree with those who
say that proving full rights and privileges in the church for gay and
lesbian people is a matter of justice."

He said the issue goes deeper. "I believe that homosexuality is a
unique gift -- among a host of other unique gifts -- be it ability,
ethnicity, race, or class," he said. "I pray that the diversity of
sexual orientation should not be a problem for the church, but a gift
to the church. Gay and lesbian people -- clergy and lay, have
certainly been a gift to the Diocese of Newark. And I believe that
relationships marked by fidelity, faith, and commitment need to be
held up and celebrated."

New Jersey bishop outlines stance

Councell told the Convention March 2 that as the Episcopal Church
makes its response to the communiqué, "we are called to minister in
New Jersey."

"New Jersey is not Tanzania, nor Nigeria; neither is it any of the 29
countries on the African continent where homosexuality is a criminal
offense," he said. "We minister in a radically different context. In
our churches are many gay and lesbian people who are living in
faithful, committed unions who are asking for our acceptance, our
support and our prayers. We have said that the Episcopal Church
welcomes them and welcomes all. Gay and lesbian Christians are our
brothers and sisters in Christ and our partners in mission and
ministry, in work and worship, in fellowship and service. As someone
recently said, `They are We.'"

In his address, Councell cited General Convention resolutions
(Resolution 2000-D039 and Resolution 2003- C051) which have supported
gay and lesbian couples whose relationships are characterized by
"fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest
communication and the holy love that enables those in such
relationships to see in each other the image of God."

He told the Convention that his support of the New Jersey law "is
consistent with the Episcopal Church's long-standing commitment to
support equal protection (Resolution 1994-C019) under the law for
homosexual
persons."

Councell will not authorize any public liturgies for the blessing of
same-gender unions because there is not a consensus "about the
biblical and theological rationale for such unions" in the Episcopal
Church and the Anglican Communion. He wrote that he supports study
that could lead to the development of such rites, adding that "I do
not believe that any one bishop or diocese should authorize that which
has not been authorized by the governing body from which they derive
their authority."

Councell invited clergy to "offer loving, wise and prayerful pastoral
care and counseling togays and lesbians living in life-long,
monogamous and faithful partnerships."

"I encourage clergy and congregations to offer their pastoral support
to such couples, which may include prayers of celebration and
thanksgiving for the grace and holiness of their unions," he said.

However, Councell will not allow clergy to sign New Jersey civil-union
licenses because of the lack of authorization from General Convention.

"Clergy cannot act as independent agents of the state alone," Councell
said. "We are sacramental ministers and representatives of the Church,
which is deeply conflicted on this issue. We can be pastors and
partners in prayer while other officials (judges, mayors, clerks, et
al) meet the state requirements."

New Jersey Attorney General Stuart Rabner has said in a formal opinion
that religious rites performed by clergy are exempt from the state's
law against discrimination so, unlike municipal officials, they cannot
be compelled to perform civil unions. Rabner said that mayors and
other non-clergy who regularly perform marriages cannot turn down gay
couples who ask to have civil unions performed.

Councell acknowledged that some Primates may take offense at his
approach to the state law.

"With all due respect, and, as a matter of conscience, I will not
banish prayers for gay and lesbian couples. I will not punish clergy
and churches who offer such prayers. And I will not retreat from
extending as full an embrace and as genuine a welcome to gay and
lesbian people into the Episcopal Church as we can," he wrote.

Councell added that he knows "that welcome and embrace are not all
that they could be."

"Yet I remain hopeful that we can uphold the dignity of our gay and
lesbian brothers and sisters while we continue to address these
matters and maintain our bonds with one another within this diocese,
within the Episcopal Church and within the Anglican Communion," he
concluded.

In his earlier interview with ENS, Councell also rooted his response
in Paragraph 143 of the Windsor Report that quotes from a May 2003
statement in which they note "the duty of pastoral care that is laid
upon all Christians to respond with love and understanding to people
of all sexual orientations" and that "it is necessary to maintain a
breadth of private response to situations of individual pastoral care."

When the law went into effect, New Jersey became the third state
offering civil unions to gay couples and one of a handful allowing gay
couples some version of marital rights. Connecticut and Vermont also
allow civil unions, while Massachusetts is the only state that
recognizes same-gender marriages. California's domestic partnership
laws carry the same weight as civil unions, and Maine and Hawaii offer
limited benefits to same-gender couples.

"We must recognize that many gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey are
in committed relationships and deserve the same benefits and rights as
every other family in this state," Gov. Jon S. Corzine said in signing
the legislation.

The Legislature passed the civil-unions bill on December 14 in
response to a state Supreme Court order that gay couples be granted
the same rights as married couples. The court in October gave
lawmakers six months to act but left it to them to decide whether to
call the unions "marriage" or something else.