There has been a renewed push to end the 1985 FDA provision that banned gay men from donating blood. Eighteen Senators including Frank Lautenberg signed a letter to the Commissioner of the FDA calling for a change in policy:
The senators' letter noted that in March 2006, the American Red Cross, America's Blood Centers and the American Association of Blood Banks reported to an FDA-sponsored workshop that the ban "is medically and scientifically unwarranted."
The move to ban donations was a response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, but in their letter the Senators noted that we live in a much different society than we did in 1983:
"Not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
They said we turn away potentially healthy blood donors because of an out of date system and we're not necessarily any safer for it. But the FDA didn't seem interested in hearing what the Senators had to say:
"while FDA appreciates concerns about perceived discrimination, our decision to maintain the deferral policy is based on current science and data and does not give weight to a donor's sexual orientation."
That was in an article and I can't find it on the FDA's website, but that's a disappointing response from them. The statement seems kind of ridiculous because how can they not give weight to sexual orientation if it's only a ban on gay men? You can view the letter the Senators sent here. I contacted Steven Goldstein with Garden State Equality for comment and got this:
The ban on anyone not being able to give blood is a relic of the stone age. The fact is, safe and unsafe sex practices have nothing to do with sexual orientation and everything to do with individuals on a person to person basis.
The Senators pointed out the need for a comprehensive review of the policies that deal with blood donation because currently,a heterosexual woman who has had sex with numerous AIDS-infected partners can give blood after waiting a year, but a gay man who's been celibate since 1978 is banned. The Courier Post had an editorial yesterday endorsing Lautenberg's efforts to end the ban:
lifting the ban will save lives -- and bring an end to a needless bias against a considerable segment of our population.
The editorial called it an archaic policy that limits desperately needed blood supplies. If we're able to screen blood for diseases, it shouldn't matter whether that blood comes from heterosexuals or homosexuals. If fear is driving public policy making, the soundness of the decisions needs to be called into question.
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.
A Pennsylvania man is claiming that he was the victim of a gay-bashing incident about a week ago, in Butler, NJ. And there may be an off-duty police officer who witnessed at least part of the incident and refused to help.
In an account given to WWOR-TV (video link has audio problems), 23-year old Jesse Allard of Stillwater, PA, says he was attacked in a bar in the town of Butler in Morris County on December 26, and hospitalized in Paterson with leg and arm injuries. According to Allard's account, he went to the Trackside Bar to celebrate his birthday. Inside he complimented another patron on his coat, and everything slid downhill fast from there:
He called me a fag and he told me don't ever touch him again. So I was just like, 'Well, I'm sorry I'm just complimenting your coat."
Allard believes it was the bar's owner who he says dragged him out of the bar to a parking lot and held his arms while another man punched him in the face. He says his cell phone was taken from him and smashed. When Allard looked to a nearby motorist for help, he says the man - who he believes is a police officer - refused to assist him:
He said he heard someone say the driver of the car was a police officer. According to the report, Allard said the driver said he was not on duty and drove off.
Allard reports he was then hit by a Jeep whose driver "hit the gas" to hit him at a higher speed. A reporter's calls to the Butler Police Department went nowhere - the Chief unavailable and the Public Information Officer unavailable until Monday.
I'm including the link to WWOR-TV's interview with Allard below, but as I'm posting this the audio is still screwed up. I've emailed them to ask if it could be fixed.
Congressman Chris Smith is one of five members of Congress who appealed to the President of Uganda to oppose a proposed law that would execute people who are gay.
Rachel Maddow has been all over this story and this video segment can bring you up to speed:
In their letter, the members referenced Ronald Reagan in an effort to persuade the Ugandan President:
We were deeply troubled to learn of legislation being considered in the Ugandan parliament that would reportedly penalize a single act of homosexual conduct with a life sentence and a mandatory death penalty if the person is HIV-positive.
While we understand that the legislation is being amended, we still urge you to oppose it.
President Ronald Reagan famously referred to the U.S. Constitution as a "covenant we have made not only with ourselves, but with all of mankind." In this spirit, we, as elected officials, aim to advocate for human liberty and dignity around the world.
As such, we ask that your government continue to make it clear that you are opposed to such legislation and that you do everything within your constitutional authority to stop such legislation from becoming law in Uganda.
What is striking is that the letter invokes the Manhattan Declaration, which is a statement of religious principles by three prominent Christian leaders, Charles Colson, Robert George, and Timothy George. Among other things, the Declaration calls homosexuality immoral and includes a long explanation of why homosexuals should be denied the right to marry.
Certainly an interesting document to reference in this situation. Regardless, Congressman Smith still deserves kudos for stepping up and taking a stand on this offensive legislation being considered in Uganda. I'll put the letter they sent below the fold. The next step for Congressman Smith is advocating for gay rights here at home.
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.
The council also approved legislation tonight to create a commission on gay, lesbian and transgender issues. The 11-member panel will advise the administration on sensitivity toward the gay community on issues like public safety and policing, housing, education and the training of municipal employees.
"This is not about anyone's take on the issue. It's about empowering a community, and bringing folks to the public policy table to propose legislation, to foster understanding, to empower folks in the city of Newark who have historically not been empowered," said Councilman Ronald C. Rice, who drafted the legislation that created the commission.
James Credle, executive director of Newark Pride Alliance, agreed with Rice in a prepared statement.
"Our community has endured countless struggles in the fight for equality in the City of Newark," Credle said. The alliance was founded in 2003 in response to the slaying of city resident Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old lesbian who had rejected the advances of a man. As the umbrella organization for gay and lesbian groups in Newark, the alliance focuses on safety
Kudos to Ron Rice on his work to get the commission created.
Borrowing the language of the gay marriage debate, Simpson said the group seeks to "protect our definition of what walking on sidewalks is."
Jackie Bello '09, echoing what Simpson called the "separate but equal" nature of Proposition 8, said the group would gladly work with the Grounds and Building Maintenance Department to construct alternative pathways for freshmen to use.
"We don't hate freshmen. Some of our best friends are freshmen," said Shawn Fennell '09, who helped Simpson plan the movement.
Those crazy kids, they're nothing if not creative. The group's facebook page now has 209 members as well. The protest continues Monday and Tuesday.
Today, a bombshell article in The New Republic (TNR) exposed what many of us thought to be true?that Chris Smith's misguided priorities go far deeper than his twenty-two attempts to ban the common, everyday birth control pill.
Thanks to new investigative reporting by TNR's James Kirchick, we now know that Chris Smith is a founding member of the radical right. A reporter at TNR, Kirchick is the author of a highly-regarded article on Ron Paul's ties to segregationists; that article changed the national narrative on Paul earlier this year.
Kirchick's new article reveals that Chris Smith has longstanding ties to religious-right hate groups; that he sat on the board of advisers of a pro-racial segregation organization in the 1980s; that he authored legislation that would bar gays and lesbians from working openly as nurses, doctors, first responders, federal employees or federal contractors; and that he played a role in a vicious disinformation campaign about HIV/AIDS that demonized gays and lesbians as "serial killers." The article also reveals that Smith concealed campaign contributions from at least two hard-line, pro-segregation groups.
The New Republic only scratched surface of Smith's bigotry. Following up on TNR's reporting, this morning, the Zeitz campaign discovered Chris Smith not only worked with segregationists; he voted with them. In 1981, Chris Smith voted to restore non-profit status to segregated private schools [HR 4121, 7/30/81] that were created as a mechanism for white Southerners to avoid the full implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
The Zeitz for Congress campaign also obtained a copy of Chris Smith's early college writings. In an article dated 1973, Smith accused gays and lesbians of being in league with "the Anti-Christ":
In Smith's words:
"We can live in harmony with His [God's] spiritual laws and be like the man, as Christ said, who built on an undestructable [sic] rock, or we can live in disharmony with the Anti-Christ; the devil, not the laughable, fiery and character with horns, but the evil one often spoken of by Jesus and he like the man who built his life on sand which eroded and eventually fell. God wants us happy; His laws are for our welfare, our protection, not Sin!"
Chris Smith's bigotry goes beyond his early career. In the 1990s, Smith introduced legislation that would force any company or public entity that receives federal funds to fire openly gay employees. The legislation would deny gays and lesbians the right to work as teachers, doctors, nurses, first responders, federal contractors, or state and federal workers. It might even deny basic rights like student loans to gay college students.
What we've learned today:
Chris Smith is a founding member of the Religious Right, having sat on the advisory board of the Christian Voice. The Christian Voice strongly supported racially segregated private schools in the South and worked closely with Jerry Falwell.
Chris Smith voted to support segregation by allowing all-white private schools (which were created after forced-desegregation) to remain segregated.
Chris Smith failed to abide by FEC rules and report contributions from openly racist, misogynistic, and homophobic groups on the radical right.
Chris Smith introduced legislation in the 1990s to mandate that the government (or any recipients of federal funds, like local school district, fire departments, police departments and federal contractors) fire any openly gay employees. Openly gay individuals would have been barred from any receipt of federal funds such as school loans, food stamps or unemployment benefits.
"Chris Smith is an extremist," said Steven D'Amico, Zeitz for Congress campaign manager. "There is nothing moderate about racial segregation. There is nothing moderate about denying jobs and education to millions of gay Americans. There is nothing moderate about taking away the right to use common, everyday birth control. These are unacceptable positions that are out of step with basic human decency."
I'm asking you to do a couple of things here. Please make a contribution. Also, if you're in or near the district, please contact ian_at_joshzeitz_dot_com to volunteer.
We can win this race, and we need to do it in order to show New Jersey and the country that this kind of extremism is immoral and unacceptable, and voters will hold such extremists accountable.
Republicans claim that their party is a Big Tent - well, unless, of course, if you're gay, black, hispanic, poor, blue-collar, etc. Ok ok, enough of the snark there. In Sunday's Record, Bogota mayor Steve Lonegan argues why Republicans should "raise the tent" for gays.
Those attending Friday's funeral mass for David Bentz, the Army soldier from Franklin Township killed last week in Iraq, will be greeted by protesters from a Kansas-based group opposed to homosexuality. The Westboro Baptist Church has taken to protesting at funerals for servicemen -- not because of their sexual orientation -- but on the belief the country has incurred the wrath of God by accepting homosexuality.
Update: The room is full with some people having to stand. There's about 250-300 people attending the rally.
Update 2: More people are still arriving. The unions say "we stand up for the people who have always stood up for us."
Update 3: In attendance: HPAE, Local 164, laborers local 592, CWA, Firefighters union district 37, Garden State Equality, Phyllis Salloway-Kaye of Citizen Action
Update 4: Also attending: Amy Goldsmith of the NJ Environmental Federation, SEIU, UFCW, Mike Herson of the Sierra Club.
Join us Wednesday, January 17 at 4 pm in Paramus at a HUGE RALLY of union leaders and progressive activists to support Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle.
Wednesday, January 17 at 4 pm
IBEW 164 Union Hall Auditorium
205 Robin Road
Paramus, NJ 07652
4 pm: Loretta, Gordon and Valerie hold a pre-rally meeting with progressive activists -- they want to talk to us before the hoopla. A photographer will be present to take photos of each of us with the legislators.
5 pm: The rally itself. A who's who of labor and progressive activists across the state -- it's going to be amazing.
Here's why the event has historic significance: There aren't enough times when we progressives join with our incredible friends from the labor movement in political action. New Jersey, as you know, is per capita the most unionized state in America. And thanks in huge part to Blue Jersey, its bloggers and their other respective organizations, New Jersey right now is the hottest place for progressive activism in America.
Imagine all we can achieve when progressives and labor unite!
This event is also when we progressives, almost all of us staunch Democrats, stand up to a county party machine when it strays from the values of progressive, clean and open government that we cherish by not expressing sufficient support for incredible legislators like Loretta, Gordon and Valerie - reformers and champions of justice everyday in every way.
What an incredible signal we're sending with this event, one that will reverberate politically statewide.
So join us
Wednesday, January 17 at 4 pm
IBEW 164 Union Hall Auditorium
205 Robin Road
Paramus, NJ 07652
Please don't hesitate to be in touch if you have any questions. Best, Steven, cell (917) 449-8918, Goldstein@GardenStateEquality.org.
From time to time, we at GSE get e-mails like the one below, which came in yesterday. Of course the best response may be none. But if you wanted to respond, how would you do it?
Hi:
I am a Christian and I would like you all to consider changing your lifestyles and quit homosexuality.
You know, God did not give us the Bible to stash away in a drawer or in the attic to be forgotten. The Bible is our instruction manual for our everyday life. Please do not choose to continue ignoring the Bible. Every word is true, because God is truth and he says....."the truth shall set you free." Don't let the enemy keep on lying to you and all your members by telling you homosexuality is okay.
He made Adam and Eve and through them they were to multiply throughout the ages. Have you ever wondered what the world population would be if God had made Joyce and Candace? Or, Tom and Michael? It's obvious, the world population would be two very lonely women, or two very lonely men.
God loves all homosexuals and agonizes every day because they will not listen to Him. So, the time is now to turn and follow Jesus, because when we die......it's too late.
As we enter 2007, New Jersey's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community is celebrating one of the great periods of civil rights progress in American history -- even as many other states struggle to fend off LGBTI civil-rights rollbacks. Since 2004, 14 laws advancing the rights of the LGBTI community have been enacted at the statewide and county levels: A statewide domestic partnership law, a subsequent expansion of the law, still further expansions in 10 counties, a statewide transgender equality law, and most recently a statewide civil rights law that gives New Jersey the second strongest protections for same-sex couples in the nation.
No one would dispute that New Jersey is uniquely fertile ground for civil rights progress, no matter the efforts of our state's progressive organizations. By the same token, these organizations have been savvy enough to take advantage of the climate, making our march toward equality move that much faster. Blue Jersey, Lambda Legal, NJLGC, the ACLU, GRAANJ, New Jersey for Democracy, BlueWave, New Jersey Stonewall Democrats and the GLBT Rights Committee of the New Jersey Bar Association, all partnering with Garden State Equality and other organizations, have led the historic march.
That said, when the New Jersey Supreme Court handed down its decision on October 25th, many of us privately acknowledged how difficult it would be to win marriage equality within 180 days. Legislative leaders didn't want history to happen so soon, unfortunately. But as the weeks unfolded, it became clear we could win marriage equality legislation within the next two years or less. Every legislative leader in the Assembly and state Senate wound up endorsing marriage for same-sex couples. At the committee hearings and during floor debate on civil unions, key leaders said marriage equality was a matter of when, not if. Support for marriage equality legislation quadrupled within a few weeks, an unheard-of pace.
Activists, including the Blue Jersey community and the aforementioned civil rights organizations, helped to make all that possible. Because activists fought the good fight -- no, the great fight -- during the immediate post-Supreme Court period, the timing for marriage equality in New Jersey has hastened dramatically. Two years or less from now is no pipe dream.
As we activists fought for marriage equality after the Supreme Court decision, we tried to be both visionary and practical. On the one hand, we shouted from the rooftops that civil unions are separate, unequal, discriminatory and do not work in the real world. We'll continue to shout that -- it's simply true. On the other hand, behind the scenes we entered negotiations with legislative leaders and their staff to make the civil unions bill as strong as possible. The timing for negotiations was tricky: By talking with power brokers about how to improve the civil unions bill, we didn't want to send a signal that civil unions were acceptable. But once Thanksgiving passed and civil unions hearings were on the schedule, we initiated negotiations with legislators and dove into them with vigor. This, even as we continued our relentless public campaign that generated more than 300,000 e-mails, postcards and phone calls to legislators exhorting them to pass real marriage equality.
Every time we turned up the heat for marriage equality, though we knew the odds were against us, we found our hand in civil unions negotiations was strengthened. Far from pushing power brokers away from the figurative bargaining table, the grassroots campaign made them more receptive.
For starters, legislators accepted Garden State Equality's proposal to include in the law a government commission that will examine how civil unions in New Jersey fall short of marriage equality in providing equality to same-sex couples. It's unprecedented in the national marriage-equality movement: We got built into the law a mechanism that codifies a continuation of our movement for marriage equality. Even better, the commission will issue public reports every six months, far more often than government commissions usually report.
All told, we proposed 20 changes and additions to the civil unions bill. Nineteen of the 20 changes and additions made it into law, including the all-important elimination of language that directly or indirectly defines or describes marriage as between a man and a woman. New Jersey thus became the first state in the country to enact a civil unions law, unlike Vermont and Connecticut, without any quid pro quo ban on marriage equality. That's another boon to our campaign for achieving marriage equality in the next two years or less.
Thus the civil unions bill went from putrid, as we publicly described the early version, to evolving into the best civil unions law in the country, even including an engine for achieving marriage equality soon. We were practical enough, once we got the best bill possible, to nuance our public position. By the time of the legislative committee hearings, we did not oppose the civil unions bill outright, despite being pressed to do so from several quarters. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, pro-marriage-equality Senator Bob Martin publicly asked me whether he should vote against the civil unions bill. I responded that the civil unions bill was a significant step forward.
So what was the 20th change to the bill, the one we didn't get? We wanted same-sex couples to be called spouses throughout the bill. We didn't quite achieve that. But we changed the language from the cold, impersonal "parties to a civil union" to "civil union couples." And here's a little secret: "Spouses" is sprinkled in the bill, too.
From our vantage point, activism is about holding a carrot in one hand, and a stick in the other. About generating passion in the streets and about being practical in the lobbies. We don't believe it is mutually exclusive to take a hard-line strategy to engage thousands of New Jerseyans to pressure legislators for 100 percent equality, on the one hand, while negotiating to get the best possible legislation we can, on the other hand. All are the tools of an activist. As some of our distinguished colleagues in activism exhorted us to be practical, that's exactly what was happening behind the scenes.
Practicality, of course, means not merely making demands of our public officials, but also giving back to them. In both the 2005 and 2006 elections, Garden State Equality produced a comprehensive get-out-the-vote operation for progressive candidates across the state, almost all Democrats. Our volunteers staffed 20 campaign field offices in every part of New Jersey. We have also contributed thousands of dollars to pro-equality candidates, again almost all Democrats, including through two Garden State Equality statewide galas for the express purpose of supporting our legislative friends. We know the importance of saying thank you beyond just saying it.
To be sure, people and organizations have different strategies, all of which have met with great success. Not only did legions of activists work successfully together to produce the country's strongest civil unions law, and not only is New Jersey is the best position in America to achieve marriage equality through legislation, but other strategies have worked equallly well. The relentless crusades for Laurel Hester and "Cher," in which Blue Jersey was our cherished coleader, respectively led to 10 counties strengthening their LGBTI rights laws and to the legislature passing a transgender equality law. In the weeks before "Cher-nobyl," legislators had told us the transgender bill was dead in the water for the time being.
In December, the bill passed the legislature by 69 to 5 in the Senate and 32 to 3 in the Assembly, the largest margins in American history by which a state legislature has passed a transgender equality law. As Cher herself would sing, Believe.
Throughout civil rights history, for that matter, activists have won civil rights progress when they had the chutzpah to ask for more, not less. New Jersey did not enact a domestic partnership law in 2004 because activists sought merely domestic partnership. It was because activists insisted on marriage equality.
New Jersey did not expand the domestic partnership law in January 2006 because activists sought merely that expansion. It was because activists insisted on marriage equality.
New Jersey did not enact a civil unions law in December 2006 because activists sought merely a civil unions law. It was because activists insisted on marriage equality.
And New Jersey did not enact the strongest possible civil unions law, one just short of marriage, because activists sought merely the strongest possible civil unions law. It was because activists insisted on marriage equality.
Now watch New Jersey's progressive activists, LGBTI and straight alike, win marriage equality within the next two years or less.
As Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Winston Churchill, it's fun to be in the same decade with you.
I almost never listen to New Jersey 101.5, but when a friend called and told me that Dennis Malloy of "Dennis and Judy" was discussing Corzine's signing of the transgender civil rights bill into law yesterday, I couldn't resist tuning in.
After about five minutes of hearing this right-wing boob expound on how "Comrade Corzine" was preventing business owners from freely discriminating against anyone they don't like, being the loudmouth transgender radio host I am, I just couldn't stand it anymore and picked up the phone...
Join Garden State Equality on Thursday, December 14th in Trenton for the celebration of the final passage of New Jersey's transgender equality bill and also for the celebration of an extraordinary political dynamic:
As the civil unions bill passes both houses on Thursday, key legislators have publicly acknowledged that the new law is merely an interim step toward 100% marriage equality -- and that they expect the legislature to revisit the issue. This, as support for marriage equality legislation has grown from six to 20 legislators since the October 25th Supreme Court decision.
We have the momentum! Thursday begins the next phase of Garden State Equality's marriage equality campaign.
The Assembly session begins at 1:00 pm Thursday. The vote on civil unions will come anytime thereafter. The Assembly will also pass the transgender equality bill -- the Senate passed the bill last week. We'll all be sitting at the gallery in the Assembly.
The Senate session begins at 2:00 pm Thursday. The vote on civil unions will come anytime thereafter. We'll all be sitting at the gallery in the Senate.
When all the votes are done, join Garden State Equality and the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey at the Trenton Marriott, a block from the State House, to celebrate passage of the transgender equality law -- and how much closer we are to 100% marriage equality in New Jersey.
Contact: Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality, cell (917) 449-8918
Join us Wednesday, January 17 at 4 pm in Paramus at a HUGE RALLY of union leaders and progressive activists to support Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle.
