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发帖数: 19713 | 1 GSE is looking for LGBT couples to testify at Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing on Tuesday
Last Updated on Thursday, 19 January 2012 09:14 Written by Peter Frycki
Wednesday, 18 January 2012 17:41
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Stephen Goldstein after 2010 Senate vote GSE's Steven Goldstein says "the
game is on" for marriage equality in 2012. Next Tuesday the Senate
Judiciary Committee will take the next step in the process with a hearing on
the marriage equality bill. The hearing will be January 24 at 11 am at the
State House. He is seeking civil union couples who want to talk about what
the deprivation of marriage equality means to them and who have faced
difficulties with the New Jersey civil union law since it became available.
Goldstein says Garden State Equality is also looking for LGBT Youth and
parents or other loved ones of LGBT youth. If you would like to testify he
asks you to email GSE at T*****[email protected] and put "testify"
in the subject header, and include in the email your name, town and the
easiest phone number at which GSE may reach you as well as which category
applies to you, or any other category or anything else that may be relevant.
Loretta Weinberg says, "the time has come for New Jersey to legalize same-
sex marriages."
NJ Senator Loretta Weinberg says, "the time has come for New Jersey to
legalize same-sex marriages."
Whether or not you want to testify, Goldstein is urging all interested
citizens to join GSE at the hearings on Tuesday morning at the State House,
125 West State Street, Trenton. Parking is available at the Trenton Marriott
, 1 West Lafayette Street, just three blocks from the State House, and then
it is a short walk to the State House. Goldstein says in an email sent today
that everyone should arrive "very early" as GSE will be there "at the crack
of dawn." It is expected that the hearing room will be jammed and many anti
-gay and anti-equality opponents are also planning to pack the room
according to Goldstein.
GSE urges supporters to wear your GSE EQUALITY The American Dream t-shirt
from two years ago - if you have one.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats say Same-sex marriage will be the first order of
business. In the Senate Democrats have a slight edge and are the majority
party in the Senate but would need Republican support to override a veto by
Republican Governor Chris Christie.
Bill A-1 in the Assembly and S-1 in the Senate may be voted on in just a
very short time in the next few weeks. The early vote counting is showing a
majority of legislators in both houses are inclined to vote in favor of same
-sex marriage this year.
A similar bill fell short in January 2010 with former Democratic Governor
Jon Corzine's full support . More than a half-dozen Democrats did not
support the bill in the Senate. Senate President Steve Sweeney abstained
from voting in 2010 and has since said, "it was the biggest mistake" of his
legislative carrer in the State Senate. That bill in 2010 was never
introduced for an Assembly vote.
"It is a disgrace - a disgrace that we deny civil rights to our fellow
citizens," Senate majority leader Senateor Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) said
. She stressed that the time had come for New Jersey to legalize same-sex
marriages and end a civil-union law that stops short of equality for all.
"However long I am in this position, however long the feisty is still within
me, the fight for marriage equality will be front and center," said
Weinberg. "There is no retreat, there is no surrender. There is only the
continual march forward to secure the rights that everyone else enjoys for
gay and lesbian couples."
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, (D-East Orange), said Assembly Democrats
will push for same-sex marriage as well. The Democrats have a 48-32 majority
in the Assembly. |
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