Archive for the ‘New Jersey’ Category

Today, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided, by a 3-3 split, not to take up the question of whether, in offering civil unions instead of marriage, the New Jersey Legislature has failed to comply with the Court’s 2006 decision in Lewis v. Harris. In that case, the Court held that providing same-sex couples with lesser rights than different-sex couples violated the New Jersey Constitution, but left it to the state legislature to determine how to remedy that inequality. The legislature chose to pass a civil unions law in late 2006, including a provision creating a Civil Union Review Commission to determine whether civil unions in fact provided equal benefits to same-sex couples. In 2008, the Commission issued its report documenting that civil unions fell short of treating same- and different-sex couples equally, as the Court had mandated.

It was great to head up to the Jersey Shore this past weekend with my youngest son to be on-hand for Asbury Park Pride. The 5,000+ attendees were there to protest, party, advocate, demonstrate or represent. The crowd was diverse in every way, but the message was clear: New Jersey is a place where the GLBT community is large, growing, and living life more openly.

The following posts provide several perspectives from veterans who traveled to last week’s Lobby Day to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The first comes from HRC’s Cassie Fleming, who accompanied Nebraska veterans to their visits on the Hill:

Nebraska veterans traveled from the Heartland to the nation’s capital early this week to lobby their elected officials to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The group included gay and straight veterans of all ages, from some who just returned from tours in Iraq to others who served more than two decades ago for as many as 22 years.

 
Two weekends and three snows ago, I again headed to southern New Jersey to organize around the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). I planned to leave Washington D.C. on Saturday and drive to Atlantic City to attend the city’s much anticipated Miss’d America Pageant.
The Miss’d America Pageant began in 1993 as a day-after spoof and AIDS [...]

Last week I had the great opportunity to meet up with my friends at the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance. I have been working with the Alliance since mid November and they have been great allies in our ENDA work. The Alliance invited me to a popular LGBT night they have at a local restaurant [...]

This update on our continuing organizing around the Employment Non-Discrimination Act comes from David Hurley, currently in New Jersey:

This past Sunday I was invited to speak to Skylands Unitarian Universalist Fellowship to talk about ENDA and the faith community’s responsibilities to speak up and take action in support of fair workplaces on behalf of our [...]

This update on our continuing organizing around the Employment Non-Discrimination Act comes from David Hurley, currently in New Jersey:

Saturday marked my first ENDA event of the new year.  I left New York City, hit the road and headed to the first of three key congressional districts which I will be visiting over the next two weeks. [...]

Now that the holidays are over, I look forward to hitting the road again to visit districts in New Jersey and upstate New York.   Before I start my first ENDA organizing trip for 2010 this weekend, I wanted to share a report from a GAAMC event I attended in Northern New Jersey’s 11th congressional district before the [...]

After a debate that underscored that civil unions are not the equivalent of marriage, today the New Jersey State Senate failed to pass legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples, voting 20-14 against the bill.  The bill had passed out of the Judiciary Committee by a 7 to 6 vote this past December.
After today’s vote, Garden State Equality [...]

A few items of note:

The New Jersey State Senate has put today’s expected vote on the marriage bill on hold in order for the state Assembly to also begin their process of consideration.  Leaders at Garden State Equality support the development which will likely result in more positive momentum for the bill.  To get involved [...]