Jessie & Izzy

by: Rosi Efthim

Thu Nov 05, 2009 at 03:51:35 PM EST

Her name's Jessie. Earnest kid. Goes to Montclair HS. Half the people in the room were young. High school kids like Jessie, or college. But also couples. Families. About 150 people, spilling out into the hallway, sitting on the floor, cross-legged on tables, using each other's backs to write on. An emergency meeting, one of 6 last night - all over North Jersey. Tonight, Central & South Jersey: Hillsborough (where I'll be), Asbury Park, New Brunswick, Westfield, Collingswood.

But this was Jessie's first time at HQ. Before Jessie's best friend Isabelle came out last year, Jessie had no opinion one way or another about same-sex marriage. Never thought about it. But when it was about Izzy, she jumped in. Pretty simple stuff, the way she tells it:

I'm just standing up for my friend. And if I didn't have a gay best friend, I'd be standing up for somebody else's best friend.

Boom. There it is: After a couple decades of the gay rights movement resting too heavily on the shoulders of a minority population forced to advocate for their own rights, the movement's now broader, more a consensus. Not just gay people anymore, but other people standing behind them, and with them. Just simply grasping the idea of fairness.

With Chris Christie's election not 100 hours old, a shifting landscape, it's absolutely the right time to reach critical mass, to let legislators know that we don't go away, and we expect this to pass now. See, Jessie wants government to do "what's right" for Izzy, "to get my friend set in a better future for when she's older."

See who else I met last night, after the jump.

Two people who love each other who can get together and stay with each other. Forever.

And here's where you can find a marriage equality meeting tonight.