TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Feb. 19 said he has “significant concerns” about whether civil unions give gay couples the same rights as married couples, but didn’t back a quick change to state law.

A spokeswoman said the Democratic governor would sign a bill allowing same-sex marriage, but not until after November’s presidential election.

“He will sign a bill, but doesn’t want to make it a presidential election year issue,” Corzine spokesperson Lilo Stainton said.

Gay activists want same-sex marriage approved in New Jersey by year’s end.

Steven Goldstein, chairman of gay rights group Garden State Equality, said a state report that found civil unions creates a second-class status for gay couples boosts their claims that the unions don’t work.

It found same-sex couples in Massachusetts – the only state that allows same-sex marriage – don’t experience the legal complications that those in New Jersey do.

“New Jersey’s civil union law segregates, discriminates and humiliates the very people it is supposed to help,” Goldstein said.

Goldstein said the group, which plans to run radio ads supporting same-sex marriage, received 568 complaints from couples saying their employers or others aren’t respecting their civil unions.

About 2,300 couples have received civil unions in New Jersey.

“There should be one classic standard for all loving couples – marriage,” Goldstein said.

Same-sex marriage opponents said they were surprised neither by the report nor calls for same-sex marriage.

“In the end, the truth is, the homosexual lobby wants same-sex marriage for one reason – to use the power of the state to force heterosexuals to approve of homosexual activity and relationships,” said Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris.

The report’s findings were officially released Tuesday but were first reported Saturday by The Associated Press.

The law took effect a year ago and was meant to give same-sex couples marriage equality without the title.

Corzine said he looked forward to reviewing the report closer and working with the commission and Legislature to ensure “basic principles of equal protection” for everyone.

“The report does raise significant concerns about whether the law has effectively granted same-sex couples the same rights and benefits of every other family in the state,” Corzine said.

Corzine and New Jersey legislators made the state the third to offer civil unions under a 2006 law that came after the state Supreme Court ruled gay couples should receive the same legal protections as married couples.

As a part of that law, the commission was created to look into whether it was working.

The commission found that many companies in the state that are self-insured – and thus regulated by federal rather than state law – refuse to provide health insurance to the partners of their employees.

“Civil union status is not clear to the general public, which creates a second-class status,” the report found.

Senate President Richard J. Codey said the report “raised a number of red flags concerning the implementation of the law and its ability to provide true equality for same sex couples.”

Codey, D-Essex, said he looked forward to determining “how best the Legislature should proceed in order to ensure that same-sex couples are not being marginalized or denied the rights they so richly deserve.”

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. said it was “disheartening” there’s “so much evidence that the law is not living up to even the most modest of hopes.”

“We will not tolerate anything less than equal treatment for all committed couples,” said Roberts, D-Camden.

Brian Brown, executive director of the Princeton-based National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage, said the commission was stacked in favor of same-sex marriage.

Brown said people are turned off by the idea of same-sex marriage, adding: “People don’t want this.”

But Sen. Loretta Weinberg said she’s working on legislation to change the law to let gay couples to get married. She said she would introduce the bill in March and hoped Democrats and Republicans would endorse it.

“It’s time to change the name to what it really should be – marriage,” said Weinberg, D-Bergen. “I believe that we owe this to the committed couples who have been treated like second-class citizens because of their sexual preference.”