Warm congratulations and a Blue Jersey Woo Hoo! to Babs Casbar Siperstein, who broke ground again just a few minutes ago by her election to the DNC's Executive Committee. That vote came at the DNC Fall Meeting in Chicago. Babs, the first out transgender person in the DNC's history now rises to help lead the national Democrats, joining its top-most leadership committee.
There are now two New Jerseyans on the DNC Exec. Committee. Babs joins Tonio Burgos in that work. Babs sent us a jubilant email a few minutes ago. But we're looking forward to hearing more of this story when she gets back from Chicago.
One look at 12th district Senator Jen Beck and it's perfectly obvious why she's got "Gay Man's BFF" written all over her.
She's fabulous, gorgeous and has a big long pony tail that I secretly want to French braid. She's also a bit of a diva. Basically what we gays affectionately call a "fag hag." Straight out of central casting. For better or worse, she just gives off that vibe.
But here's the deal, she's not a true friend to NJ's LGBT community as proved by her NO vote on Marriage Equality. To make it worse, as a member of the Judiciary Committee Sen. Beck shares a rather unfortunate distinction of being one of only 4 NJ Senators to vote against marriage equality TWICE. For those of y'all keeping score, YES it does make it twice as bad.
Frankly i was surprised and hurt when she voted NO (for reasons described in paragraph 1) but in retrospect it makes sense: Governor Chris Christie was on the lookout for a LtGovernor at the time and Beck was widely considered to be on the shortlist. Voting for Gay rights was not gonna score any points with Christie who's admittedly "not a fan" of equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
So it was newsy when Jane Roh reported Senator Beck's evolving position on equality. In her own words:
"There are lots of reasons why I ultimately voted no. My position has evolved. I spent a lot of time on this issue, and at the end of the day, I would support it if it came before me."
Naturally we welcome her change of heart. Change is good.
Hollywood will be properly and predictably tweezed, tucked, plucked, corseted and bauble'd. It's almost like election day for pretty people. And the eyes of the world will be watching.
Heady times, indeed. And on this date, it's worth remembering, A)because Laurel Hester deserves to be remembered and B) it's okay to contemplate battles past. Even the ones we won.
The acceptance speech is after the flip, but check out the Movie trailer, below. And let's make this an Oscar-themed openthread, shall we?
This was posted just under the news roundup, so I'm pulling it up top again. - promoted by Rosi
Some days in Trenton are better than others. For the sake of thousands of kids who are gay (or fat or smart or whatever else might get him/her bullied) yesterday at the state house was quite possibly life-saving.
Some more fantastic news on our bipartisan Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights. (See video below) Two weeks ago , as you know, the bill was introduced with 43 Assembly sponsors - now up to 46, five more Assembly members than needed for passage. Today was the first day since then that the Senate had a quorum and that the chief Senate sponsors, Barbara Buono, Diane Allen and Loretta Weinberg, could officially introduce the bill. In truly awesome news, the bill was introduced today with 28 Senate sponsors, seven more Senators than needed for passage. The sponsors include 11 of the Senate's 16 Republicans. We hope to have additional news on the bill's progress soon. This legislation is going to help every student whose life has been made hell by bullying. We are overjoyed.
It just didn't fit. Well, something about Tyler Clementi "didn't fit" for Dharun Ravi and Michelle Wei, either, which is why they felt justified violating his privacy by posting a romantic encounter online. Intolerance doesn't have to be wearing a white hood or frothing at the mouth. Simple quiet statements of disgust, and the timidity of our elected leadership to stand up, not only for what "fits" but also for what is right, create the environment in which individuals like Ravi and Wei can ruin a young man's life just by trying to be "funny."
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!
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.
Please join me in calling our Senators to urge them to repeal the military's so called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that discriminates against gays and lesbians who want to serve their country in the US Military.
I'll spare you the reasons why discrimination sucks and simply remind you that this issue demands your urgent attention.
Lautenberg's contant info is (202)-224-3224
Menendez is at (202)-224-4744.
Timing is everything in Washington and now is the time to light a fire under our Senators to vote AND to fight to repeal this retrograde policy.
For those who believe, as I do, that "Don't Ask Don't Tell" is a horribly misguided and discriminatory policy that has done a great disservice to our armed forces, this has been a remarkable week.
During his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his intent to end the 17-year-old policy, leading to a standing ovation that included Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Yesterday, at a Senate hearing, Secretary Gates said "I fully support the president's decision" and announced a working group to produce an implementation plan for repeal. At the same hearing, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made a strong appeal for repeal, saying that "allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do." The current policy, he said, "forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."
In 2006, John McCain said, "the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility."
At yesterday's hearing, he said he was disappointed in their testimony. Apparently, the advice of military leadership doesn't count for much now.
It should be evident that it is a matter of when, not if, DADT is repealed and gay men and women will be able to serve openly in our armed forces. I hope we see that day sooner, not later.
Overturning Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not simply about providing equal rights. It's about preventing the hemorrhage of critical military talent from an already-overstretched American military engaged in two wars. When I travel to the Middle East to meet American servicemen and women in the war theater, no one discusses their personal lives. Nobody should because it doesn't matter. What matters is what they are doing to complete their missions and strengthen American security.
The real question is why are we depriving our armed forces of some of their most important resources? Why are we discharging skilled Arabic linguists, fighter pilots, and weapons officers? Why have we discharged more than 13,000 service members since 1994?
There is no good reason, as Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen made clear.
This week's developments are encouraging, but, although Executive Branch action would be good, what is needed is Congressional action that would make equality the law. The bill I support - sponsored by my colleague Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, a Veteran of the War in Iraq - has more than 180 cosponsors. We should not wait to pass it.
No one would agree to deprive our military of ammunition or armor, so why deprive it of its greatest necessity, highly talented servicemen and women?
Today is the day that the NJ Senate finally votes on marriage equality. This is hardly a news flash for regular readers of this blog, but it's still feels kinda surreal that it's finally show time.
If anyone reading has pics, video or updates to add, please feel free to share here. If you're on site in Trenton, grab a snack cuz it's gonna be a long day....... I estimate the marriage vote to go down sometime around 5:30pm.
Jay Lassiter planned all along to go down to the statehouse yesterday and blog for us. But then, something happened in his hometown, that made him stay there, to capture for you today what the people of Cherry Hill did when the fools came to town. Great job, Jay - promoted by Rosi
Today the NJ Senate Judiciary voted on gay marriage equality. And what a long strange trip it's been clearing the first hurdle.
Promoted: From Jay's vision, to reality. (Let's hope.) -JG
Old b-roll footage can be intriguing to watch, including this clip with Senator Barbara Buono from last summer's paid family leave bill signing. She praises the leadership skills of Sen. Steve Sweeney -- who's since become Senate majority leader. It kinda got me thinking about what's possible for GLBT rights in New Jersey.
I missed this when it happened, but recently Rob Andrews laid the smack down during a committee hearing on transgender discrimination in the workplace. The first speaker in this clip, a transgender man, spoke about some of the challenges facing transgender employees.
Following the testimony of the first speaker, Congressman Andrews gave a shout out to Garden State Equality for their great work and then moved onto questioning the second speaker about his opposition to equal rights for transgender employees in the workplace ...
If we would just treat people like people and not worry about their circumstances, we wouldn't have this problem. I can only hope that years from now when I have children, people will look back on these debates and say how foolish it was that we even spent our time worrying about these things.
The day commemorates October 11, 1987, when 500,000 people marched on Washington, USA, for gay and lesbian equality. National Coming Out Day events are aimed at raising awareness of the LGBT community among the general populace in an effort to give a familiar face to the LGBT rights movement.
When those "familiar faces" are our elected officials, it becomes that much more powerful and inspirational - look no further than the incredible Mayor Gina Genovese of Long Hill Township, and the handful of equally out and proud councilmembers scattered across the state that Garden State Equality honored earlier this year. Your courage means so much more to the gay community than most people realize!
But, it's about time we moved higher up the political food chain. It's one thing to have friends at the table advocating on your behalf, but there's no substitute for having an actual seat at the table. Unlike Idaho, Utah, North Carolina, Alabama and many other "red" states, New Jersey is without an openly gay member of the legislature.
Oh sure, we have now, and have had in the past multiple closeted gay members of the legislature (links intentionally omitted), and kinda-sorta-everyone-knows gay politicians (but I still can't link to them!), not to mention the governor's mansion (link unnecessary). But, more than one has seen their advancement - or even their career - end prematurely, not because of their gayness, but because they lived in the closet.
Try as you like - but you can't effectively advocate for equality if you don't treat your own life and love as equal to others. So, on National Coming Out Day, to New Jersey's closeted gay politicians (you - and a whole bunch of other people - know who you are), I say: now's your chance! Why not come out today?
Management of the Millstream Apartments has blocked the two adults and four children from returning to the three-bedroom unit damaged by the blaze. Perhaps most disturbing for the family that moved to the township from Newark, N.J. in 2005 looking for a better life, Millstream has refused to tell them why.
So why you may ask, is this family of 6 not allowed to return to their home? Well Nicole Washington and her partner Lauren Johnson believe it is because of who they are and the lifestyle the lead.
Lauren Johnson, feels that discrimination at more than one level is at play since the couple leads an alternative lifestyle and is black.
The couple was first told the apartment would be ready in 3-6 months, but now the company says...
A district manager for Millstream's parent company Conifer Realty LLC, told the Times that her company's decision was based on information from the police investigation into the fire. She later declined to elaborate.
Something doesn't add up here and the thing that bothered me the most by the article is the company offered the family a 1 bedroom apartment in Camden. This from a 3 bedroom in Washington Township, are you kidding me?
While we at City Belt believe that too much social focus is placed on marriage -- whether by LGBT activists, young professionals, nagging suburban mothers or “old maids†-- we do acknowledge the inequality that pervaded this proposed amendment, and applaud it’s failure to pass.
