OK, back to the NJ Ruling: Is It a Victory or a Defeat?

I saw the headline on 365gay.com, "N.J. Court Rejects Gay Marriage":

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/102506jerseyNo.htm

Now while that may be technically accurate to an extent, let's not forget the content of today's ruling: New Jersey's highest court just decided that under the Equal Protection Clause of the state's counstitution, the state must provide the EXACT SAME RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND BENEFITS TO SAME-SEX COUPLES as it does to opposite-sex couples. Now while this ruling does not have a six-month deadline for the state to begin marrying gay and lesbian couples like the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling almost three years ago, this does require that the legislature either expand marriage to same-sex couples or rewrite the domestic partnership law to extend ALL THE SAME BENEFITS of hetero marriage to same-sex unions... And the legislature must do either within 180 days.

Although I'd prefered that the NJ Supremes just call it marriage, I am still happy that they are declaring that gay and lesbian unions must be equal to heterosexual unions. I'll call it a victory.