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Rally tonight at 7:00 pm, Unitarian Church of Montclair, 67 Church Street. Please e-mail and call your friends now to get them there. NJ SUPREME COURT TELLS LEGISLATURE TO GIVE GAY COUPLES ALL RIGHTS BUT DOES NOT SPECIFY MARRIAGE; GARDEN STATE EQUALITY ANNOUNCES THAT THREE LEGISLATORS WILL RAPIDLY INTRODUCE A BILL FOR 100% MARRIAGE EQUALITY
STATEMENT ON TODAY'S RULING
from Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State
Equality, cell (917)
449-8918:
Those who would view today's
Supreme Court ruling as a victory for same-sex couples are dead
wrong. So help us God, New Jersey's LGBTI community and
our millions of straight allies will settle for nothing less
than 100% marriage equality. Let decision makers from
Morristown to Moorestown, from Maplewood to Maple Shade,
recognize that fundamental fact right now.
So today, without missing a beat, Garden State
Equality announces that Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, the
Assembly Speaker Pro Tem, joined by Assemblyman Brian Stack and
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, will introduce marriage-equality
legislation. Thousands of us will now hit the streets, the
phones and the hallways to get this legislation
passed.
As the
late Lt. Laurel Hester and too many other cases across New
Jersey have shown, half-steps short of marriage -- like New
Jersey's domestic-partnership law and also civil union laws --
don't work in the real world. Hospitals and other
employers have told domestic-partnered couples across New
Jersey: We don't care what the domestic partnership
law says. You're not
married.
That's why it
wouldn't matter if the legislature added all the
rights in the world to the current law without calling it
marriage. Marriage is the only currency of commitment the
real world universally understands and
accepts.
We're
not seeking marriage merely for some moral, ethereal
victory. We're seeking marriage because New Jersey has
proven that marriage is the only way a gay civil rights law will
ever work in the real world.
Our community has a stunning track record,
with victory after victory, when our fate is our own hands
rather than in a court's. So right here and
now, without wasting a moment,
Garden State Equality
kicks off its Campaign for a Marriage Equality Statute with
these initial
steps:
1. A GSE
television commercial for marriage equality starring the late
police officer Lt. Laurel Hester, known and loved
throughout the state, begins
in a few hours on News 12 New Jersey. It will air
every single day and run for several weeks. Lt. Hester
taped the commercial in January, shortly before her death.
Watch the commercial now at www.GardenStateEquality.org
2. GSE today
releases a communique from 268 key
New Jersey grassroots leaders, a stunning cross-section
of New Jersey's progressive electoral base,
urging Governor Corzine and the
Democratic-controlled state legislature to respect today's
decision. Unprecedented
in scope, the communique is signed by 84 African-American
leaders, 68 Latino leaders, 54 labor leaders, and 62 leaders
of grassroots advocacy organizations that are
predominantly straight.
3. GSE will now create and lead
a Statewide Task Force for a Marriage Equality Statute that will
bring together the leadership
and political savvy of 150 organizations across
New Jersey, both straight and LGBTI.
4. GSE's "Equality Express" bus
will now tour the entire state on upcoming weekends, with
same-sex and opposite-sex couples talking to New Jerseyans about
marriage equality. The first weekend tours will
be to houses of worship across the
state.
5. GSE will now accelerate
implementation of "Awesome Autumn," our recently
announced whirlwind of more than 50 public
events across the state in just
the next three months. It's the most concentrated, most
ambitious statewide barnstorm ever produced by a public
interest organization in New Jersey. For the complete
schedule of events, visit www.GardenStateEquality.org
6. Because GSE understands that all politics is local, GSE's District Leaders -- leading the organization in each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts -- now swing into immediate action to implement long-planned district-by-district grassroots campaigns. That's the tip of the
iceberg. Garden State Equality will shortly rollout
DOZENS OF MORE
ACTIONS, including the next town meetings
in our statewide town meeting series for marriage equality
-- a series attended by more than 10,000 New
Jerseyans and
two-thirds of the state
legislature since
January 2003, and credited with transforming
grassroots
activism. As
you've seen from Garden
State Equality's hundreds of events and thousands of e-mails over the
past few years -- a breathless pace of activity that's not going to abate, so
help us God -- we never give
up and we never give in to those who tell us no.
Hell
no. Over our dead bodies will we settle for less than 100%
marriage equality. The people of New Jersey wouldn't
want us to. According to the 2006 Zogby-Garden
State Equality Poll, New Jersey favors marriage equality by 56%
to 39%. Every other recent poll in New Jersey also shows a
majority of voters favor marriage equality.
We will continue
to exhaust our opponents
until we win the marriage equality our
families deserve. We will continue to outthink, outwork and
outhustle the hatemongers
every step of the way.
You must
attend tonight's rally to tell legislators that anything
less than 100% marriage equality is unacceptable. Right
now, please call and forward this e-mail to all your friends to
get them to the rally.
There have never been circumstances more important than
this. We'll see you tonight at 7 pm, Unitarian Church of
Montclair, 67 Church Street.
Yours in
history,
Steven
Goldstein
Chair, Garden State
Equality
Cell (917)
449-8918
Goldstein@GardenStateEquality.org
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