Marriage Equality Gets a Boost in Maplewood

Garden State Equality held its first Action Fair in New Jersey on Sunday afternoon at the Burgdorff Cultural Center in Maplewood. The Fairs are part of a larger effort to win passage of state legislation legalizing marriage for same sex partners, and for energizing and organizing people around issues affecting the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in general.

While Garden State Equality has organized more than 40 town hall meetings averaging 500 attendees each over the last 5 years (the organization was founded in 2004), the Action Fairs are a new model. This Action Fair attracted approximately 18 new volunteers, about what the organizers hoped for.  Garden State Equality Chair and President Steven Goldstein explained that the Fairs are meant to be more intimate.

“This event is for training activists, having them make calls and write letters,” Goldstein said.

The Montclair-based Garden State Equality is focusing on marriage equality in 2009.

“We’ve won every other civil right in New Jersey,” said Goldstein, leaving marriage equality as the last and highest goal. Also, the LGBT community is finding that the state’s civil union law is not being recognized by many employers and health care providers. Additionally, with Jon Corzine (who is friendly to marriage equality) possibly serving his last year in office, Garden State Equality does not want to miss the opportunity to work with a supportive governor and legislature.

Goldstein said the group chose to hold the event in Maplewood because of the town's history of support for LGBT causes.

“Garden State Equality and the LGBT community have had a love affair with Maplewood and South Orange throughout our history,” says Goldstein. He points out that Maplewood has the highest percentage of Garden State Equality members and that it has a very large LGBT community.

On Sunday afternoon, the Action Fair attracted people from every walk of life: from a mother and her two young daughters to two 10th graders to a gay couple who had been together for 37 years. Participants included transgendered, gay, lesbian and straight “allies.” Everyone had the opportunity to introduce themselves and express some thoughts. Then the moderators got down to the business of discussing plans to communicate with state assembly persons and senators.

Misty Huber brought her daughter Keely, age 7. It was Keely’s idea to attend after seeing a flier at the Maplewood train station.

“Keely has friends whose parents can’t get married and kids are perceptive about these things,” said Huber. “She felt the unfairness of that and she wanted to do something about it.”

Keely sat with a volunteer and hand-wrote a letter to the governor expressing her desire to see her friends’ parents get married before the end of the year.

For additional information about Garden State Equality, visit www.gardenstateequality.org.