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 TEANECK, N.J. (AP) - Hundreds of gay couples received the same legal protections as married couples early Monday when a law making New Jersey the third state in the nation to offer civil unions took effect.
The civil unions — which offer the legal benefits but not the title of marriage — were granted automatically to the hundreds of gay New Jersey couples who have been joined in civil unions or married in other states or nations.
At least one couple held a ceremony at the first possible moment. Steven Goldstein and Daniel Gross reaffirmed their Vermont civil union shortly after midnight. They would have had the rights in New Jersey even without holding a midnight ceremony here.
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