By Ranjan Bhaduri
Dec.08 (THAINDIAN NEWS) There is good news in store for the lesbian and gay population of New Jersey. A bill that legalizes same sex marriage got the approval of the legislative committee recently and it will come under the scanner of Senate shortly. The judiciary committee of the Senate voted in its favor and the result was 7-6. As a result the bill was sent up for a final vote in Full Senate to be held on 10th December. In the recent past, Maine and New York voted against the legalization of gay and lesbian marriages.

The supporters of the same sex marriage bill said in their statement that the existing civil Union law fails to recognize the basic rights of LGBT people. In a lot of incidents Lesbian and gay people are denied the rights to the insurance and medical facilities relating to their partners. If the Bill gets the approval of the Full senate New Jersey will emerge as the sixth state in the USA to legalize same sex unions. In fact, same sex marriages are already legalized in US states like Massachusetts, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut. Sadly, the remaining states of the country still consider marriage as a union between two persons belonging to opposite sex.

Around 600 people gathered to show solidarity for the same sex marriage bill. However, there were the members of opposition as well. Before the disputed bill can be passed on to the Governor, it needs to be passed by two legislative houses. The opinion of the outgoing governor on the bill is positive.