You've read the stories, seen the photos, and watched the video. Now, find out just what went down in Trenton yesterday, and what's going down in the days ahead during this crunchtime for marriage.
As always, we'll be LIVE, and happy to take your calls during the show. To join in the commentary with your own opinions - or your experiences in Trenton yesterday - give us a call tonight at: 646-652-2773.
In this morning's news roundup, we linked to a story about how marriage equality activists crowded into the gallery to keep watch on one of the issues prime opponents as he was sworn in, my freshly-minted new Senator Mike Doherty. - - promoted by Rosi. Well-played, Mr. Goldstein.
When hundreds of us packed the Senate gallery yesterday to see the swearing in of Senator Michael Doherty, instead of our EQUALITY The American Dream t-shirts, we should all have worn:
As Day One of the state legislature's lame duck session continues, there are more than 300 pro-equality people who showed up at the statehouse today - fired up and ready to lobby - compared to less than 75 anti-equality advocates, peddling that garbage. Listen up, Senators and Assemblymen. Stakes are high and we're going to remember how this turned out - for years, and elections to come. Photos were just sent in by Joey Novick, who's down there lobbying and snapping pictures right next to Jay Lassiter (whose photos are here).
Joey's pix:
3 lonely rabbis and a camera. Turnout's light for the anti-equality crowd
Rev. Bruce Davidson & religious leaders speaking for equality
Hell yes, it's on. And if any of you Blue Jersey readers are down there advocating for parity in our marriage laws, by all means chime in with your own comments, pictures or a diary of your own. - - Promoted from the diaries by Rosi
Update 12:01pm 300 pro-equality lobbyists - gay and straight - showed up on our side, with people still coming. Fewer than 75 people showed up to tell your state legislators to keep marriage only for us straight folks. 300 is 4 times 75, babies. Fierce turnout!
Update! 11:44am Our press conference begins at noon. Video to follow.
Update! 11:08am. Senator Cardinale just arrived. He's at his irrepressible best which means all is well with the world. One thing I've noticed about our opponents is their thinking is a generation behond for a good reason: They tend to be older. I'm thirty-seven and I'm an elder statesman on my side. On their team, I'd be the youngest buck.
Update! 10:20 am and the pro-equality crowd is so massive that we're still filing through security. In fact the progressive coalition's now filled yet another committee room to capacity. The pro-marriage crowd looks young and vital while the haters have a look that says "time is NOT on our side."
It's 9:20 am and it's officially on. If juicy lame duck is you're thing, the State house is the place for you.
The Senate Judiciary hearing room is packed to max with marriage equality friend and foe.
But little do they know, we have reinforcements. See below.
If you can't make it personally, maybe you can make some phone calls. You guys know the drill: Sweeney and Sarlo need to hear from you. Every day.
There's been a lot of buzz about the progressive coalition headed to Trenton Monday to lobby towards Marriage Equality. (details below, hat tip Alison Pelzman)
I'll be there. Lots of my friends and allies will be there too. Will you? Consider this a pre-lobby day open thread.
Rally with the Garden State Equality/BlueJerseyACLU-NJ/DFA in Trenton Monday, November 23.
We're meeting at:
Garden State Equality's New Jersey Office
110 W. State Street, Trenton
Monday, November 23, 2009
8:30 a.m.
If there's a day to take off work for a cause, it's Monday. Your day off could mean a lifetime of equality for families in New Jersey.
If you live in another state, just promise to help us raise hell, deal? If we win, we'll celebrate at the Atlantic City boardwalk. If we lose, we'll go to the casinos and take bets on what we'll see first: civil rights for New Jersey's gay families or a lesbian Miss America.
I'd rather be doing just about anything else right now besides fighting for the freedom to marry in New Jersey. I should be relaxing on my day off. Or training for next year's marathon. Or debating Bill Belichick's 4th Down call last night. I've got Christmas shopping to start.
But, I don't have time for any of those things. Why? Because I'm still fighting for equality.
And, one of the more frustrating things about this fight is the misinformation that gets spread about the political ramifications of taking action - that somehow voting for equality could be risky. In fact, the opposite is true - voting against equality is the real risk.
And, if history is any guide - and the marriage battle in Massachusetts is now, mercifully, history - anti-equality Democrats from solidly Democratic districts get primaried and lose. Just ask 20-year incumbent loser Marie Parente:
Outspoken state Representative Marie Parente of Milford, one of Beacon Hill's most conservative voices for more than 20 years, was defeated yesterday in her bid for another term. She was the only incumbent legislator to lose a primary fight.
Sciortino was first elected to the house in 2004, defeating sixteen-year incumbent Democrat Vincent Ciampa in a bitter contest. The 34th Middlesex district is heavily Democratic and the primary election [wa]s the key contest.... Ciampa, an opponent of same-sex marriage, faced Sciortino, who is openly gay.
For a long while now, primaries have been a rarity in the New Jersey Democratic party. Progressives have often looked the other way when it comes to less-progressive democratic incumbents. The theory had always been that securing democratic majorities was good enough to secure progressive results.
But, every time I read about a New Jersey Democratic legislator who is on the fence on the issue of marriage equality - a core Democratic issue which enjoys the overwhelming support of New Jersey democratic voters - it makes me wonder: Do these incumbents really want to fight?
Lesniak and Scutari questioned Le's residency, depth of experience with gay rights issues and Milgram's judgment in nominating him.
In a letter to the civil rights commission and Gov. Jon Corzine's office, the senators denounced the Attorney General's "lack of respect for the licensed attorneys" in New Jersey and "disregard of the civil rights of the gay residents of our state."
"(Milgram is) choosing her personal friends for this position and not even considering New Jersey lawyers," Lesniak said. "It's worse than patronage. She's practicing cronyism."
Milgram's office responded denying the charges and defending Le:
Wald disputed Lesniak's charges, saying Milgram has never worked with Le.
"This is not a crony," he said. "This is a highly qualified individual."
[snip]
"Chinh Le has an extraordinary background and commitment to justice and civil rights," Milgram said in a statement. "His experience and involvement in the important social and civil issues facing our state make him well-qualified to lead the division."
I reached out to Steven Goldstein with Garden State Equality and this is what he had to say:
We urge the Commission on Civil Rights to approach this appointment with great scrutiny, particularly given the circumstances under which the Attorney General forced out the previous Director, Frank Vespa-Papaleo. Frank was the best Director of Civil Rights our state ever had. He revolutionized his department into a nationally respected civil rights powerhouse ? and was also the highest ranking, openly gay agency head in state government.
The Attorney General has nominated someone completely unknown to the LGBT community ? a community denied equality under New Jersey law and for whom this position, consequently, is of great importance. The burden is on the Attorney General to further demonstrate that her nominee will continue Frank Vespa-Papaleo?s record of outstanding advocacy for every community, including ours. Right now, that is an open question.
The Commission will now decide how they want to proceed and if they want to heed the requests to move slowly and even hold the nomination for a close look.
We get this word from Governor Corzine's speech at the 2009 Garden State Equality Legends Dinner, where he said:
I'm a Democrat and I'm straight and I believe in marriage equality.
I hope that 2009 will be the year that I pull out this pen and sign a marriage equality law in NJ.
There are many other people who hope he pulls out that pen and signs marriage equality into law as well. Now the Legislature just needs to respond and act, to make that possible.
Governor Jon Corzine will be speaking at Garden State Equality's 2009 Legends Dinner. He's the latest luminary from politics, Broadway and Hollywood to star in the grandest civil rights gala in New Jersey history.
If you live in South Jersey and you care about the Constitution, we need you to stand up for marriage equality. Tonite. It's kind of a now-or-never-no-excuses type thing.
Here are the deets:
As you know, in Collingswood on Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 7:00 pm, at the Scottish Rite Auditorium, 315 White Horse Pike, Garden State Equality is holding a FED UP WITH INEQUALITY Town Meeting specifically for South Jersey. The event is free and open to all. No RSVP required.
Without question, this is the most important event we have ever done in South Jersey. We will be taking action on the spot to lobby legislators for the marriage equality bill. 2009 is the year of the marriage equality bill. We will have an open microphone for you to speak out about why you want marriage equality.
We'll take a little time crafting a pro-equality strategy, especially tailored for downstate. And after that, it's party time! We'll go around the corner to the hippest place ever to enjoy food and drink and other such merriment. Did I mention it's all free?
So tonite you have the chance to A) help make history and B) attend a very Mary Holiday gala.
The event was The Fourth Annual Images In Advertising Awards, presented by the Commercial Closet Association. And, Think Equal was one of two commercials in GSE's television campaign for marriage equality which was selected for the "Commercial Closet Award" - honoring the year's best LGBT television advertising campaign by a not-for-profit organization.
Along with Garden State Equality, the other organizations nominated in the not-for-profit category were GLAAD (United States), Gay Police Association (England), Outlive (Canada) and Adoption San Francisco (United States). So, this was some pretty still national and international competition. Congratulations to GSE for once again leading the charge for equality in New Jersey.
Indeed, kudos are deserved all around - well, except for the legislature, which still hasn't acted to bring equality to the Garden State, over a year later. GSE Chair Steven Goldstein highlights this sad state of affairs in a statement issued today:
the failure of the civil union law since the production of the commercial would require a more pessimistic script today about the law's ability to provide the rights and benefits of marriage. The civil union woman in this commercial would not be able to say "me too" as to receiving insurance and pension benefits today.
Awards are nice, and something to be very proud of. But, it's time for our legislature to make us even more proud, and move us forward, not backward, on the issue of marriage in New Jersey.
Rob Andrews Leads Historic Hearings on Transgender Discrimination
Andrews' opening statement and Diane Shroer's statement with some red head in the background
Last Thursday I led a contingent of folks from Garden State Equality to attend the first ever Congressional hearings on transgender employment discrimination! The hearings were extremely insightful and for those that actually paid attention, the stories of blatant discrimination against loyal, patriotic and hard working quality professionals was simply mind boggling! For me it was especially satisfying since I played a small part in getting the parties together to enable this, and for the third time in my short political advocacy career, have a Congressman tell me he would take the lead on something and then do so - and do it very well! If for no other reason than holding these hearings, Sub Committee Chair, Congressman Rob Andrews would be deserving of great praise for saying he would and then for doing so!
But he did it so very well! What is impressive is that and he and his staff worked with terrific organizations, NCTE (National Center For Transgender Equality, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, ACLU, National Center for Lesbian Rights as well as state organizations such as Garden State Equality. The quality of our witnesses and the preparation given to the members of the Subcommittee reflected a high level of professionalism.
I hope you read Jason Springer's post which has the video in which Cong. Andrews slices and dices the Harvard educated lawyer for the religious radical right wing and exposes their argument as pure and simple ugly bias. Rob Andrews became a hero to many an equality loving person! I also very much appreciate that he made mention of me and Angie and Lily who were with GSE
Rob Andrews pressed Lavy on his claims that forcing religious employers to hire transgender workers would be like "forcing an Orthodox Jew to eat pork." Andrews asks whether an Orthodox Jew with a law firm could refuse to hire a Catholic. Lavy is forced to respond in the negative. Andrews then presents a series of similar scenarios - should a pacifist be allowed to discriminate against a Vietnam vet? - and Lavy just looks at him blankly, speechlessly. Andrews is killing him right now and eloquently making the point that the "religious conscience" argument does not hold up to scrutiny. I wish I could type faster or had video! Because this is DELICIOUS. The overflow room is rapt.
But that was only part of the story, and I think the rest of the story needs to be told.
Indeed I was filled with pride to be from NJ with 3 New Jersey Congressmen playing an active positive role at the hearings, especially since only 2 were on the subcommittee. Say what?
The morning started off with a quick meeting with Congressman Rush Holt and some of his senior staff. Rush, from the first time I met him, he has "gotten it" and he never ceases to impress me as well as accord respect.
We then had a formal and productive meeting with Congressman Andrews NJ-1 and his staff prior to the hearings and followed his staff to the committee hearing room. Seeing the long line of people outside queued up for seats we followed his staffer where we waited in the witness room with the witnesses and folks from the national advocacy organizations. (VIP treatment) That was an education seeing the folks behind the scenes that prepped the witnesses and provided education for the Congressmen.... and to see what organizations actually did the work and which took the credit! Special thanks to Becky Dansky the Task Force Federal Legislative Director for her great work with the committee and personal help in untwining my neck pendants so I could look good for the camera when it was focused on Colonel Shroer!
Labor and Education Sub committee Chair Rob Andrews was amazing and he is now a Vice Chair of the newly formed House LGBT Equality Caucus. That caucus was formed as a result of the public outcry to the botched management of the ENDA legislation that was watered down and mutilated (aka SPLENDA) against the will of all but one LGBT advocacy organization. One of the leaders against that SPLENDA was committee member Rush Holt NJ-12 was and continues to be a champion for full LGBT rights and is a member of the LGBT Equality Caucus. Rush Holt made a very positive statement, but had to leave early for his own subcommittee hearing. Rush was my first Congressional Hero... "Rush rocks!"
The surprise was Cong. Donald Payne, who was a member of the overall committee, but not Andrews subcommittee, who was there for the proceedings. He asked to speak and was positive and productive and made a passing reference to our GSE meeting last fall in his Newark office as we "educated him Jersey Style". I think I glowed! That was impressive and if we can get his leadership on this as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), it would help insure success in the next Congress.
One of the problems was that the CBC was not behind transgender inclusion, especially some members in the South. I made sure I introduced Angie to him as she is a constituent, and said to him that when we are in Denver, I would introduce him to Marisa Richmond, an African American transwoman who is a Clinton delegate from Tennessee. (Yeah, and she is a Harvard educated college professor and grassroots activist)
Although the reporter didn't mention me, I introduced her to Lily who told her story that proved to be a nice counterbalance to distorted article and I think helped Andrews.
It was good day! The next afternoon Congressman Rush Holt called me, apologized for leaving early, and we did a post mortem, we agreed the hearings went as well as possible. YAYY!
Nestled snug between a Baked Lays taste test and their ubiquitous traffic reports, there was Garden State Equality's new South Jersey bureau chief (and Blue Jersey alum) Brian McGinnis --aka SJBrian -- taking the equality debate to FOX 29.
Now for those of you who know how hard going on live TV can be, you recognize this as a command performance.
When someone can't get into the ER to see their sick partner, that's a breach of human dignity. When someone has to fight until their last breath to ensure their parter will receive thier pension benefits, that's a breach of human dignity. When someone is denied heath insurance because their partner is gay, that's a breach of basic human dignity.
The legislature promised us that Civil Unions would fix all that AND IT DIDN'T.
And so the fight goes on: in the trenches, in the statehouse, in the progressive community and -- as Brian demonstrates -- on the airwaves.
