In January 2004, the New Jersey legislature passed a domestic partnership law that provided some of--though not all--the benefits of marriage.

In 2002, seven gay and lesbian couples had initiated a lawsuit demanding the right to marry. Finally, in October 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued its ruling. Coming after setbacks in the highest courts of New York and Washington, the New Jersey ruling, while not mandating marriage, was a significant victory in the battle for equal treatment of gay and lesbian couples.

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A unanimous court ruled that "our State Constitution guarantees that every statutory right and benefit conferred to heterosexual couples through civil marriage must be made available to committed same-sex couples."

The court, however, left it to the state legislature whether the ruling be implemented by amending the marriage law in order to permit same-sex couples to wed or by creating a Vermont-like parallel system of civil unions. Three of the court's seven members dissented on the remedy, arguing that the state should simply allow same-sex couples to marry, and pointing out the symbolic value of the term marriage. Nevertheless, the legislature quickly adopted the civil union option, making New Jersey one of the first states to accord same-sex couples in civil unions all the rights and benefits of marriage.

Progress in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Oregon

In April 2005, Connecticut became the first state to enact a Vermont-style civil union bill without a court mandate. The bill, signed into law by Republican Governor Jodi Rell, extended all the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples, except for the right to marry. A companion bill defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Connecticut civil union law took effect on October 1, 2005.

[On October 10, 2008, however, the Connecticut Supreme Court declared that the civil unions law was discriminatory and ordered the state to allow same-sex marriage (see below). Civil unions ceased being offered after October 1, 2010. However, civil unions entered into before that date continue to be honored.]

In 2007, significant progress in achieving something approaching equality for same-sex couples was also made in a few other states, including especially New Hampshire and Oregon.

The New Hampshire legislature adopted civil unions, similar to those provided by Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

[The New Hampshire civil unions law was repealed by passage of marriage equality in the state in June 2009. After that law became effective in January 2010, the state ceased offering civil unions. Couples already in civil unions were able to obtain marriage licenses at no charge; in 2012 civil unions were automatically be changed to marriage.]

Oregon opted for domestic partnerships similar to those in California. The Oregon domestic partnership law, passed by a Democratic legislature and signed into law by a Democratic governor, went into effect in 2008 and provides virtually all the rights made available to married couples. Inasmuch as Oregon passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the Oregon domestic partnership law scrupulously avoids terms such as marriage or civil union, while nevertheless making the rights and responsibilities associated with marriage available to gay and lesbian couples.

Domestic Partnerships in California

Beginning in 2003, the California legislature passed a series of laws that gave a growing number of important rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples who register as domestic partners.

In 2003, Governor Gray Davis signed a domestic partnership law, which took effect January 1, 2005. It is essentially equivalent to Vermont's civil union law and extends almost all marital benefits and responsibilities to couples in a domestic partnership. Since then additional rights have been added to the domestic partnership, which made domestic partnership almost equivalent to marriage in terms of the rights and responsibilities it accords, if not necessarily in terms of the respect and dignity conferred by the name "domestic partnership" as opposed to "marriage."