(CNSNews.com) - New Jersey's move to give same-sex couples many of the legal rights of marriage goes against the will of the people, Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage, said Friday.

He was commenting on the New Jersey Legislature's passage of a bill on Thursday authorizing same-sex civil unions, in line with a recent New Jersey Supreme Court order.

After a long legal battle, the state's supreme court ruled in October that same-sex couples should be given the same rights as married heterosexual couples. However, the court left it up to New Jersey lawmakers to decide whether those rights should be extended through marriage, civil unions or some other arrangement.

The bill passed on Thursday is expected to be signed by Democratic Gov. John Corzine.

"We've seen popular support for marriage in states all across the country," Daniels told Cybercast News Service. "We've seen a landslide in favor of marriage -- red states and blue states, including in the last election. It's very clear where the people are," he said.

"The forces that are trying to destroy marriage are doing so through the courts, because they have to do an end-un around the people," Daniels added. "New Jersey is another example of that trend."

The Alliance for Marriage authored the federal marriage amendment, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Daniels said the New Jersey decision was "court-driven," not democratic.

"The court held a gun to the head of the legislature and said there are two bullets in this gun - one bullet is so called gay-marriage, and the other is civil unions, which are gay marriage in all but name, and you get to pick which bullet. That's not democracy in action."

Daniel predicted the issue would end up back in court.

Homosexual advocacy groups, by contrast, say the bill does not go far enough.

"Although same-sex couples in New Jersey are better off today than yesterday, they are still not equal to other couples," said David Buckel, marriage project director at Lambda Legal, and an attorney in the New Jersey case.

"Their relationships will likely continue to be disrespected," he said. "By passing a law that marks same-sex couples as inferior, the government has paved the way for others to discriminate against them," he said.

Buckel added, "Just as we saw happen with couples whose domestic partnerships were not recognized, so too are we likely to see similar hardships for couples in civil unions."

Make media inquiries or request an interview with Monisha Bansal.

Subscribe to the free CNSNews.com daily E-brief.

E-mail a comment or news tip to Monisha Bansal.

Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.