Blue Jersey frontpager, NJ godmother of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, Senate Majority leader, and a woman who gives Chris Christie the willies, Loretta Weinberg has a birthday today. She's 77.
LW's taking the day off from her usual Monday morning post, so instead this sweet video she made with her very sensible grandchildren, Shayna and Jonah. Here for "my adopted son Steven Goldstein" and Garden State Equality she talks with them about the day, hopefully soon, when people can marry "who they love and feel comfortable with" and the gay people in their lives who want to get married.
Birthday girl, with the beloved Shayna & Jonah:
(Disclosure: I have the honor of serving on GSE's board)
Yesterday, many people noted that representatives of religious faiths, on both sides, gave quite a lot of the testimony before Senate Judiciary, while a long list of marriage equality supporters didn't get the opportunity to speak. Sean DiGiovanna was one, and his testimony was noted this morning in Jersey Jazzman's post on NJEA's support for marriage equality. This is the testimony Sean was prepared to give; I asked him to post it. And I should tell you two things: Sean is a long time member of the Blue Jersey community, as is his husband. And I attended their wedding, which was wonderful. - Rosi
NJEA has endorsed the marriage equality bill that passed today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. As an NJEA member and acting head of the NJEA LGBT and Allies caucus, I was asked to testify today. Although I was not called upon to testify, I thought I would share it with you here. I'm also quoted in NJEA's news story on their endorsement here.
Once you see last night's demonstrations outside the Union High School Board meeting, which discussed the controversy swirling around comments made by UHS special education teacher Viki Knox, it's impossible not to notice the racial component.
Anti-Viki Knox protesters apparently primarily white - including Garden State Equality Chair Steven Goldstein, and Human Rights Campaign National Field Director Marty Rouse (who brought a petition signed by 75,000 HRC members). The only student on camera confirming that Knox's opinions made their way into a classroom, a Junior named Samantha, did not witness Knox doing so herself, instead quotes an unnamed fellow student as saying - word for word - what Knox wrote on facebook.
Pro-Knox forces apparently racially mixed, largely black - including a Pastor and father of a student, and a sophomore named William who says he 'loves' Knox and sees her as a 'spiritual mother'.
Note: Since I wrote this diary, reports have surfaced that Viki Knox indeed brought her views into the classroom on several occasions, likely violating the district policies and state law in the process. Worse, she violated a student's First Amendment rights by kicking the student out of class for wearing a rainbow bracelet.
Viki Knox's illegal conduct in the classroom raises substantial doubts about her fitness as a teacher. She ought to be fired. At the very least, she should be suspended for a prolonged period of time and must not set foot in another classroom until she understands that she needs to set her personal views aside and follow the laws of New Jersey, the policies of her school district, and the instructions of her superiors.
October, as many Blue Jersey readers know, is LGBT history month. To commemorate the occassion, Union Township High School set up a photo display featuring several famous gay and lesbian celebrities and historical figures.
Yet, this evening, Garden State Equality has organized dozens to protest a meeting of the Union Public School District Board of Education. GSE is not satisfied with school's affirming message to gay and lesbian students. It wants the district to fire a schoolteacher who responded to the display with homophobic Facebook posts of the sort that one would expect from, say, the Westboro Baptist Church.
Make no mistake, Union Township High School special education teacher Viki Knox's comments were reprehensible; Ms. Knox calls homosexuality a "perverted spirit" and compares it to cancer and alcoholism. But there are at least two problems with Garden State Equality's impulsive response to these posts. First, in its hasty reaction to the teacher's posts, the organization stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the competing values at stake. Second, GSE is doing a disservice to gay and lesbian students at Union Townshsip High School and across the state by passing up more effective responses to this controversy.
The First Amendment gives Viki Knox the right to express her opinions, asinine and offensive as they may be. As I will show below the fold, whether the school district may fire or otherwise discipline her is a close question that will probably turn on facts to be uncovered by investigation.
After a conversation I had with a relative who likes to make fun of my union and calls us hippocrits for being greedy liars, he said something that reely made me angry.
he said that he knew for an fact that some of the people running CWA were gay haters and liars. when I argued with him about it he showed me a web that is done by the vice president of one of the cwa offices. her name is rachel merrill and she uses a website to scare people about gay people and people that don't believe in Jesus.
I was really stunned because i have been reading stuff in this web and I always thought that my union was about being fair and equal to everybody but when i read some of the stuff rachel merrill puts on her web, i was shocked and disgusted.
I don't hate people for there beliefs but if she is going to be a leader in a group that is based on equality and rspect, how can she put such hateful things on her web?
one of the things I saw said that if you don't believe in jesus and you tolerate gay people or people who aren't married but have sex and kids without being married, that you are going to burn in hell.
i found some of this garbage at a place called www.rachelmerrill.com/AreYouSavedorAreYouDeceived.aspx
Maybe the stuff won't be there for a long time because somebody at cwa will call her on it but I have to wonder how long she has held these ideas and how she really feels about the people she is suposed to speak for like me.
She is the vice president of cwa 1038 and maybe the members don't know about her but i think they should and i think she shoould be removed from that position because it isn't right to have such a hateful heart and be a representative for people you think are going to hell.
I know some people, like that first ammendment 7 person are always writing stuff about how the CWA is being dishonest or being stupid about the stuff they do to make things better and maybe he has a point because based on all the stuff I saw on Miss Merrills web, she hates a lot of people who are members and have family that she thinks are going to hell.
I hope that the people that run the cwa do somtehing about her and I dont mean just hide her words because hiding the words doesn't change her personal hate and dis-respect for many people she is supposed to be looking out for.
We've had our struggles in New Jersey with the tiny band of bigots known as Westboro Baptist "Church" (quote-marks are mine, read as disrespect). Every state has now. One of their PR geniuses has figured out military funerals draw a crowd. So that's where they show up, making fun of dead soldiers (see this flyer) and squalling: God hates fags!
This will be a companion diary to Bill's excellent post this morning. We wrote our posts at the same time, so this one was held until after Bill's. - REE
As expected, New Jersey's congressional delegation split along party lines in yesterday's historic stand-alone vote to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the wildly misnamed, ineffective and exclusionary rule that has governed the United States Armed Forces since 1993 during the Clinton administration. The policy was never fair, and it never worked. Theoretically it restricted the military from efforts to discover or reveal closeted gay, lesbian, and bisexual servicemembers or applicants, while at the same time barring those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service.
Tyler Clementi used facebook - "jumping off the gw bridge sorry." - to announce his suicide on September 22. This weekend, one hundred people, connecting by facebook, walked his path to draw attention to the kind of bullying that may have driven Clementi to take his life. Most of them didn't know him, but the man who found his body floating in the Spuyten Duyvil Creek was there, looking for "closure." Some of them peered over the edge of the railing Clementi climbed over, and let roses fall down the long drop to the water.
Tim Farrell from Star-Ledger's excellent video staff (story by Victoria St. Martin) brings us there:
This is the text of a letter sent today by Sen. Weinberg to the Editor of The Jewish Standard regarding this decision to stop publishing announcements about the vows of same-sex couples:
Dear editor:
I was dismayed at your decision to no longer publish announcements of gay engagements or unions.
I understand your reluctance to offend the sensitivities of an important segment of our Jewish community. However, as the prime sponsor of the passed Civil Union law and then the Freedom of Religion and Marriage Equality Act which did not get the required votes to pass the Senate, and as an affiliated Jewish woman, I think I can speak on this issue with some experience. I met with many groups of folks as these laws and bills developed. I certainly spent a great deal of time with representatives of our Orthodox community, both in Trenton and in my office. They very respectfully made me aware of their own sensitivities. We had an open exchange on this issue. I, and my colleagues in the legislature, were very sensitive ourselves, which is why the Marriage Equality act makes it clear that no religious leader is called upon to perform such ceremonies if they chose to not do so. The religious freedom protections are many and clearly stated in the bill.
So why should the Rabbi leading the congregation to which I belong be prevented from legally sanctioning same gender marriages if he feels they are right and fit into our Jewish values and commitment to building family? Why should the Jewish Standard decide if my gay Jewish cousin wants to publicly announce his union to his partner, that the rest of our community cannot celebrate and acknowledge such public commitments if we believe in them? Any religious group in our country is entitled to practice their beliefs and to not be compelled to do anything they find in contradiction within their houses of worship.
Legislatively, I know we respected our differences. Personally, I know I respect the differences within my own Jewish community. But it is sad and hurtful when those differences cause pain and isolation to other members of our community. I respect the Jewish Standard's right to print what you chose on your editorial pages, but I disagree with that decision! I hope you will listen to other Jewish leaders, Rabbis and teachers who also feel that your decision is wrong. It causes the kind of isolation and shame which has led to the high rate of suicide among gay youth, and most recently might have contributed to the tragic death of a talented and promising young Bergen County man, Tyler Clementi.
I know that most of our Orthodox Rabbis and some of our political leaders believe that same sex unions are against G-d's law. But I also know that most of our religious and political leadership believe that we are born into our sexual identity and that love and commitment to another human being should be cherished, not isolated and not relegated to a shameful act which cannot be printed on the simcha pages of our publications. Please re-think your decision.
Sincerely
Loretta Weinberg
Senator, District 37
Chair, Health, Human Services & Senior Services Committee
By all reports, Tyler Clementi of Ridgewood, New Jersey was a young man of great promise and enormous talent. Can we imagine what desperate feelings Tyler might have been experiencing as he drove to that spot on the George Washington Bridge? Can we imagine secretly having our most intimate moments photographed and sent viral over the internet? Can we imagine being 18, just starting college and finding out your roommate "spied" on you with a hidden camera to make the pictures into a "joke"? How desperately sad for Tyler and his family and indeed for all of us.
What could have made these two young college students think this cruel idea was a "funny prank"?
We've all asked each other the most appropriate questions. We've written and talked about how in our State gay folks do not have all the same rights as the rest of us do! We comment on people who think being gay is a choice which can be "cured"! We know how some in our community still think they can bully and torment others, snicker and make them the brunt of awful jokes. Tyler Clementi's suicide is being discussed in the national media. The higher incidence of suicide among gay teenagers is dissected. A new blog by Perez Hilton called "It Gets Better" was announced on CNN (and even on Fox News), and is designed to reach out to gay teens.
People are asking should the two idiots who dreamed up this horror be prosecuted under hate crime laws. Should our laws be re-written or changed? We know that Garden State Equality has been working with Assemblywomen Mary Pat Angelini and Valerie Vaineri Huttle to re-work our anti-bullying law to make it more appropriately stringent.
How will we work to build a community where these laws won't be so necessary? This week I don't have very many answers. As an affilliated Jew in the Bergen/Hudson area, I receive a weekly newspaper which I greatly respect: The Jewish Standard. Last week they printed their first engagement announcement of a gay couple. This week, they announced that they will not do "this" again. Their editor's note said they received many letters of condemnation as well as letters of support, but because of the sensitivities expressed by a strong segment of leaders in our religious community, they do not want to divide the community or offend these sensitivities. That is certainly their editorial right to do so. But coming in the same week as Tyler Clementi's suicide, it makes me even more sad.
So here's a letter to the Jewish Standard, written by Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu, a member of our Teaneck community:
Tyler Clementi's fatal plunge off the GW Bridge last week spurred the legislation, introduced by Sen. Shirley Turner. A bipartisan bill - termed the "anti-bullying bill of rights" by Assemblywomen Valerie Vainieri and Mary Pat Angelini - is currently being written and will be introduced shortly.
A less indecisive Sen. Beach.
As one of the Democrats who voted against gay marriage equality, Turner might seem a dubious choice to lead the charge in this battle. The NJ-ALCU legal director issued a withering denunciation of Turner and her colleagues, namely Senate Pres. Steve Sweeney whose non-vote on marriage create a climate of inequality that imperils our kids to begin with. It's a fair argument and I am glad someone made it.
But I'm also glad that Shirley Turner --regardless of her vote -- is sponsoring this legislation and that Sweeney called for a moment of silence to honor Tyler Clementi. If Steve Sweeney wants to sign on as co-sponsor that'd be a bonus.
Come to think of it, I'd invite all the Democrats who voted NO (or abstained) on marriage to sign on as primary co-sponsors to Senator Turner's Bullying Bill of Rights. Senators Beach, Sarlo, Van Drew, and Madden this means YOU!
It's hard to forgive and forgive and move on from that cold winter day when the Democratic caucus folded on gay rights in New Jersey. But what's on the table at the moment is a different opportunity: to craft and pass a bill that's so darn good at protecting kids from bullying and harassment that 49 other states want to import it for themselves.
If I'm being naive, it wouldn't be the first time.
Barocas, Legal Director of NJ's ACLU, suggests our Governor look in the mirror, and our Senate President's words ring hollow. - promoted by Rosi
It didn't take long for my feelings of horror and sadness at the suicide of Tyler Clementi to turn into anger - anger not just at the unfeeling young students who so cruelly invaded Tyler's privacy, but at our state's leaders who, through their refusal to provide gay and lesbian citizens with full equality, have stigmatized gay and lesbian relationships and set the tone for tragedies like this to occur.
A line from my testimony to the New Jersey legislature during the 2009 marriage equality debate echoed hauntingly in my mind:
"When the state itself segregates people, it grants the rest of society permission to do the same. Through its example, the legislature excuses bigotry and emboldens bullies."
CNN is reporting (via the Breaking News banner) that a body pulled from the Hudson River has been identified as violinist, Ridgewood resident, and Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, 18, the victim both of an apparent suicide jump off the George Washington Bridge and of two classmates who broadcast a secretly recorded private sexual encounter over the internet.
At Blue Jersey, we're subdued today, so troubled by apparent cruelty, so saddened by the loss of a talented young man getting ready for the world at our state's university. More than anything, we want to join you in any efforts toward strengthening our young people - all our young people - so that we don't miss out on what glory they can bring to us with their hopes, their dreams, and their long, long lives.
Rest in Peace, Tyler Clementi. We've got you, little brother.
As details of the Rutgers University cyber/voyeur/bullying tragedy continue to emerge, a nation comes to grips with the shocking suicide of Tyler Clementi.
#TylerClementi Twitter feed
Evidence suggests the harassment by his roommate was chronic and that Clementi possibly reached out for advice about the invasive bullying just hours before his apparent suicide. Gawker:
Though not as bothered with his roommate's actions as he likely should have been (Clementi) is clearly disturbed by the disregard for his privacy-and the bigoted disgust-shown by both his roommate and the people commenting on his roommate's Facebook page "with things like 'how did you manage to go back in there?' 'are you ok?'" He says he'll file a roommate change request form, and "see what [the school] can offer" him.
Clearly it's a ghoulish intersection of voyeurism and cyber-bullying at play here. After all, "Being brave on the internet is one thing-facing a privacy-free dorm full of bigots, day in, day out, is another thing entirely."
NJ Senator Loretta Weinberg suggests that, " this terrible tragedy demonstrates a bigger problem. Despite anti-bullying laws and efforts to teach children tolerance and acceptance, unprovoked acts of cruelty continue to take place, resulting in tragic deaths of youngsters across our country (like this.)"
Students at RU: "stunned, angry." Photo courtesy Santiago Melli-Huber
I awoke to 100+ email messages about this incident (see sampling below the fold) and the "seizure of conscience" it evoked feels reminiscent of Matthew Shepherd's murder in 1998.
It's too early for the blame game or for silver linings, I can't help but hope this incident spurns our own legislature in Trenton to renew their commitment to anti-bullying legislation to protect youngsters from the viral viciousness which led to Tyler Clementi's death.
Tyler Clementi, a violinist and student at Rutgers University, is the man police believe jumped to his death off the south walk of the George Washington Bridge last Wednesday night. His body has not been found, but a wallet was left. He was 18 years old.
Tyler: The story is still developing, but all signs point to Clementi's suicide, and tie his death to his humiliation by two fellow students, who police believe set up hidden cameras in his dorm room on the Davidson campus, recorded a sexual encounter, then broadcast it widely via the internet. The students, Dharun Ravi of Plainsboro and Molly Wei of Princeton, have been charged with invasion of privacy.
Asher: Last week, Houston 8th-grader Asher Brown shot himself in the head after what his parents say was relentless bullying. Picked on because of his size, his religion and because he didn't have the fashionable shoes. Some kids also said he was gay, and performed mock sex acts on him in gym.
Chris: This week, at the University of Michigan, the school's first openly gay student body president - Chris Armstrong - is the subject of a breathless, angry blog written by alumnus Andrew Shirvell, a Michigan Assistant Attorney General who describes himself as a "Christian-American." Chris Armstrong Watch is creepy as hell. CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed Shirvell last night and nailed him as "obsessed with this young gay man." The video is must watch, a view of "Christianity" full of sick obsession and - my read - terrifying sexual jealousy.
The stakes: These are the stakes in all equality questions. It's why life and death are tied by advocates to such docile domestic issues as "marriage" and "kids." We look at people and decide they're allowed only so much of what we think is ours to dole out as we please. If you don't see people as equals, it's easy to depersonalize them, reduce them to losers, or to jokes. Not for you - you're not worth it. Stealing from people's humanity, you may not know how much you take. High price. Tyler Clementi may have paid that for us. And Asher Brown, 13. That crazypants in Michigan wants Chris Armstrong to pay it, or he wants something else entirely. But this shit isn't funny. It never was.
The National Organization for Marriage clowncar juggernaut was inTrenton today. The notoriously well-funded, (anti-gay) N.O.M crew is on tour spreading rancor from state to state.
The good folks at Garden State Equality (I'm a member) did a great job of showing up our angry rivals, although I grudgingly concede the style points to their tricked-out Winnebago festooned with stock photos of faux families.
The real action was inside, where we had /real/ families!
As part of an amendment to the Defense spending bill, the House of Representatives tonight voted to repeal don't ask, don't tell. For those unfamiliar, the policy has been in effect since 1993 barring openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military. The bill says that the policy would be repealed after the Department of Defense review is complete on December 1. Republicans have threatened to filibuster the Defense spending bill over the issue, but this is a step in the right direction. The bill passed by a vote of 234 YEA, 194 NEA with 10 NV. We'll have how the members of our delegation voted once it becomes available.
Update by Hopeful: Here is the Roll Call vote. All NJ Democrats voted yes and all NJ Republicans voted no.
If you're in Collingswood anytime soon, go check out the library. Then glance up and marvel at the craftsmanship and dedication that went into the shiny brand new ceiling. And then spare a thought for the people who made that progress happen: the members of Garden State Equality, whose south Jersey headquarters is located a few short block away.
In light of Governor Chris Christie's drastic budget cuts to libraries, it's up to the community to "step up" and fill the gap caused by an administration whose values and priorities do not include things like local libraries or food banks. (Click the link. I dare you.)
In this photo, members of the gay rights group Garden State Equality give their our weekends to community service projects that recognize Gov. Christie's neglectful ways.
I wonder how many books are in the Rancocas Valley library? A former councilwoman and group of a few others have decided that three of them are offensive and must be removed from the library. And the school board actually went along with them on one:
The book, "Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology" was removed under pressure from a group who felt its content was inappropriate. The book, edited by Amy Sonnie, includes a series of poetry, prose and personal accounts by gay, lesbian, and transgender youth.
At its Tuesday night meeting, the board decided not to remove two other books that the group also thought were inappropriate for young readers - "The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Other Identities" and "Love and Sex: Ten Stories of Truth."
Why can't they just accept the idea that gay people could actually love each other and be intimate too? For all the talk of getting government out of people's lives, they are very eager to limit what can be said and done when it deals with the bedroom. It's not like this action is a common occurence in the district and the board didn't bother to explain, giving no reason for its action according to the Superintendent:
"I've been here six years and this is the first one," Moskalski said of the book's removal. "It doesn't happen very often."
Moskalski said an advisory committee of 10 people, including a parent, a clergy member, the school librarian and the school board's curriculum committee reviewed the books. The curriculum committee then made a recommendation to the entire school board.
What was a member of the clergy doing on a review committee for a public high school? I have to be honest, I haven't read any of the books. And none of them are required reading by the school, so the students won't have to read them either if they don't want to. They just happen to be in the library and aren't even being read that much, having been checked out a grand total of 19 times since 2001 for all three books. That's less than one time per year for each book.
What is the school board doing going along with this? How is it that of all the books in the library, these three, checked out 19 times in the last 9 years total are a problem? I also love how at the end of the Courier Post article they make like it should be ok because the districts have Gay/Straight Alliances. Way to carry the water. The group says they're coming my way too because next they want to come and ban these books from the school district where I attended.
