As you may or may not know, New Jersey lawmakers voted yesterday to allow civil unions. While not equal to the coveted institution of marriage, the new laws will expand certain rights, such as inheritance and adoption rights. The law will go into effect 60 days after it's signed by Governor Jon Corzine, which is expected this week.

Undeniably a landmark move for The Garden State, the reaction's been mixed. One of the biggest complaints is that the legislature rushed through the bill too quickly. Ruling that gays have the same constitutional rights as straights, the state's Supreme Court gave the legislature 180 days to compose the new laws. The Los Angeles Times reports:

The bill was hurried through the process in 10 days, giving marriage advocates little ability to argue their case, said Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund attorney David Buckel, who represented seven couples who sued the state for the right to marry.

"The irony is that the court referred this matter to the Legislature because it did not want to short-circuit the democratic process," he said. "The Legislature is doing just that."

Others saw Thursday's vote as a victory for gay rights. By guaranteeing same-sex couples rights equivalent to marriage, lawmakers "have told the world that marriage no longer matters," said Robert Knight of the Media Research Center, who opposes gay marriage. "This is a social wrecking ball."

New Jersey joins Vermont and Connecticut on the civil union train. Whether that train's heading for higher ground or off a cliff remains to be seen and, of course, on your opinion.

Also, if you guys want a handy state-by-state rundown of marriage/civil union laws, head on over to CBS affiliate WCBS.

All eyes are on South Africa, where the so-called rainbow nation's parliment will soon pass a bill legalizing some sort of same-sex marriage. While the Constitutional Court ruled last year that the current marriage law, defined as between one man and one woman, derails their progressive constitution, it seems that the conservative Marriage Alliance of South Africa may be gaining a little momentum in their quest to squash gay marriage.

A coalition of religious leaders and conservatives, the Marriage Alliance plans a mass protest on September 16, to put more pressure on parliament to constrict it's legislation. It seems that they may not need to protest, as the government openly moves closer to civil unions.

While it may be tempting to fret, it's likely the Constitutional Court will use it's power and push for a more "traditional" definition. The bill hasn't been revealed yet, but will be in the next two weeks. If the march takes place, it will be a stain on the nation's long history of mass protest and public interest: steering the international communities' eye back to the grotesque underbelly of a nation once ruled by apartheid.

South African Conservatives To Show Anti-Gay Muscle [365 Gay]

Gay Marriage Nixed? [Mamba Online]

Carolyn Conrad and Kathleen Peterson, the first couple in America to register for a civil union, have officially called it quits today after living apart for exactly a year. They separated after Conrad said she feared physical harm from Peterson, her partner of more almost ten years. Yikes.

We wish them both the best and hope they can find someone new who won't hit them.

America's First Civil Union Formally Ends [365 Gay]

It's a close race in Florida, but the frontrunner supports civil unions while his opponents do not. You must think we're talking about the general election, but this divide has actually cropped up in the Republican primary. While he still supports the ban on gay adoption, frontrunning (and not gay) Republican candidate Charlie Crist approves of civil unions for gay couples. This is a huge departure from the party platform and especially from current Florida governor and brother-of-W Jeb Bush.

In Florida, even the two Democrats running for governor didn't support gay adoption until last year, so it's odd to see this little bit of progressive politics on the Republican side. Of course, his support of the gays isn't helping his argument that he isn't a big ol' queen himself (see photo at right). When recently asked if he was gay, he replied, "I'm not," but from our experience, when gay rumors persist, there is often a reason.

Regardless, we applaud Charlie for standing up for his beliefs, whatever the reason, and wish him luck in the primary.

GOP Candidate For Fla. Gov. OKs Civil Unions [365 Gay]
Crist is not gay! [Blogwood]

With public sentiment in favor of gay unions, and with the recent vote in the Czech Parliament to overturn a Presidential veto of the new civil partnerships law, we thought that July 1, the day the new law went into effect, would be a big day of celebration that kicks off a "frisky summer" of gays registering their unions. In fact only three couples reigstered on the first day, and none of those couples lived in Prague, the largest city.

We suspect that many gay couples were not eager to put their relationship into the spotlight and will take advantage of civil unions after the media circus has died down a bit. Still, only three couples? It's a rather disappointing turn-out, but we are happy that the Czech Republic now has another gay attraction besides Bel Ami.

First Gay Couples Enter Into Czech Civil Partnerships [365 Gay]

Even though the Czech Republic legalized gay civil unions in March, Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova has still slapped Czech President Vaclav Klaus on the wrist, saying, “I cannot be satisfied by him, because he does not consider homosexuals to be 100 per cent human beings." [insert bad, lesbian joke here]

We grew up watching Martina play tennis on our grandma's cable, and always liked her because she was so bad-ass, or as Grandma used to say, "a little funny." Something that is more than a little funny is Martina's glamour shot, which we have for you after the jump.

[Read On ...]

• Lesbians and gays in the Philippines plan to register their own political party in the next federal elections. Among the biggest supporters of the LGBT party are several hairdressing associations, and various artists, entertainers, and others in typical homosexual professions are onboard as well. Maybe if gays in the U.S. formed our own political party, we wouldn't have to rely on the Democrats to pretend they care about us. We bet the Aveda Academy would totally throw in some free conditioner for the party spokespeople. [Asian Journal]

• Former Boyzone member Stephen Gately gay-married his partner in the UK on Sunday. Elton John was supposed to attend the ceremony but then cancelled. Perhaps Stephen's party threatened to be even more fabulous than Sir Elton's, or not fabulous enough. [PinkNews]

• India may not have yet decriminalized homosexual intercourse, but the first gay community organization has been formed in the city of Chennai. The organization, called the Men Community Development Society (not the catchiest of names) aims to build community among homos for the good of society. Says one member, "I came here and was astonished to find a lot of people with whom I can identify myself. Then I came to know about condoms and the truth about HIV/AIDS." We hope the MCDS helps everyone else in India "come to know about condoms" as well. Yikes. [New Kerala]

• Elton John will not be appearing at any civil unions in Australia anytime soon. A doomed-from-the-start bill to legalize gay unions in the Australian state of Victoria was officially killed today by Premier Steve Bracks. Australian Prime Minister John Howard also remains thoroughly opposed to the idea. We think these politicians need to rewatch Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. [GayNZ.com]

• New head of the Human Rights Campaign Joe Solmonese talks and talks in a way-too-long interview with the Washington Blade. If you have always wondered what the HRC actually does, Mr. Solmonese endeavours to explain it in painstaking detail, but don't say we didn't warn you when you blow your whole lunch break trying to make sense of it all. [Washington Blade]

• Oasis’s Liam Gallagher says that the England football squad is pretty “gay.” Well, we have news for you, Liam. So is being an alt-rock diva. [MTV]

• Marc Jacobs will put his label on only the finest merchandise. And that includes the finest rent-boys. [Jossip]

• Those crazy kids with the Soulforce campaign got themselves arrested on purpose, tresspassing at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University to protest the school's anti-gay bias. At least now that they've been to jail, they've got street cred. [AP]

• What do you do when the State forces your charity to provide adoptions to gays as well as straights? If you’re the Catholic Church, you spoil the fun for everyone. [Boston Globe]

• Everyone knows that gays aren’t very violent, in fact we're usually the exact opposite. Who else would stage a protest by tonguing each other? [Made in Brazil]

• Famous queers in the UK continue to get hitched. It just won’t stop. [UK Gay.com]

• Grasping at every media opportunity they can, Project Runway's desingers discuss their favorite...Star Wars moments? We don't get the connection either. But it's a funny read nonetheless. [starwars.com]

• An MTA officer called a transgender "ugly," banned her from using the women's restroom, forcing her to pee in a cup, and then placed her under arrest. Not exactly humane, but then again we've had worse experiences on the MTA. [Breitbart]

• The ship The Warrior, also known as the pride of Queen Victoria, will begin hosting marriages with different types of queens starting this weekend. [Pink News]

• Madge will warm up her small-scale summer tour with a performance at the large-scale Coachella Festival in Southern California. [MTV]

• Sophia Bush cites "fraud" as her reason for seeking an annulment from Chad Michael Murray. Was Kenny Chesney anywhere close by during their marriage? [People]

• The Massachusetts Church that houses the remains of two Presidents will not be allowed to hang a huge banner supporting same-sex marriage. The decision might be reconsidered if an alternately proposed sign is "not as intrusive" (read: prettier). Sounds pretty gay to us. [Good As You]

Britney Spears entered Iowa state politics the other day when Gov. Tom Vilsack used her as an example in the gay marriage debate. Just in case Brits is reading this, Iowa is a state in the center of our country.

Gov. Tom Vilsack, expressing support for civil unions for committed gay couples, drew a pointed contrast Tuesday with the quickie marriage of pop star Britney Spears two years ago. "I do think that we as a state ought to honor commitments, and we ought to reflect that in policies that we have," Vilsack said. "I personally don't think that it is fair . . . for Britney Spears, who was married for 51 hours to some guy in Las Vegas (for) that guy (to have) more rights than someone who's been committed to another person for 25 years."

While Vilsac doesn’t support full equality yet, we have to take issue with his assertion that Britney doesn’t believe in long-term commitment. Look at her relationship with K-Fed. That’s gonna’ last forever.

Vilsack cites pop star’s haste in backing of gay unions [Des Moines Register]

• Brokeback Mountain wins even more awards. This is getting way too easy. [AP via Yahoo]

• Heath Ledger sees his film being yanked from a Utah theater at the last minute the same way we do: "hilarious and very immature." [Herald Sun]

• New Jersey Governor Richard Codey will likely put his John Hancock on two bills that would finally give same-sex partners equal inheritance and funeral rights. [Newsday]

• Stephen Gately continues the new scorching hot trend for out British celebs: getting married! [The Advoacte]

• First big news from Macworld? Speedy Intel-fitted computers! [Macworld]

Newlyweds Sir Elton John and David Furnish grace the cover of British mag Attitude in a loving and sweet pose. The interview inside was done pre-wedding, but the two still have quite a bit to say about their relationship and the UK’s new civil union laws in general.

Elton even allows David equal talk time:

David: If I think back to growing up in Toronto, I left the place nearly twenty years ago and that was largely because of my sexuality. There was a sense of shame and a sense of not being accepted attached to it for me back then. I had to live a double life. Walking around Toronto now, all these years later [he’s currently shooting a film there], it stirs up so many emotions and anxieties that are just full of self-loathing for me. I remember at the time trying to come out to my family and my mother sitting at the table and bawling her eyes out and saying I’d never have a life or a future. There were no role models. There was no-one I could talk to or even point to and say, but hang on, this person’s doing this and that person’s doing that and they’re happy.

He's right. Compared to the 00's, there weren't all that many gay role models in the mid-eighties. Hell, even the flamboyant gay icon Furnish is now with was married to, you guessed it, a chick.

Elton John & David Furnish [Attitude Magazine]