New Jersey, We have reached that
Crucial Time
New Jersey is entering a pivotal juncture in its civil rights history.
Dear friends,
The state legislature will reconvene in November to vote on domestic partnership legislation that would give some rights and benefits to gay and straight unmarried couples alike. And the trial court's decision in the lawsuit to allow lesbian and gay couples to fully marry is also likely to come soon. Either way that decision goes, it will quickly be appealed to a higher court -- and the media and political attention to both marriage equality and domestic partnership will, at that moment, become massive. Again, we are likely talking
SOON.
So it's by no coincidence that our grassroots activities are intensifying. You get a lot of e-mails, we know, asking you to attend this town meeting or that activity or this or that dinner. Friends, the e-mails aren't spam -- hell no.
The e-mails ask you to attend free events to fight for equal rights, equal benefits and equal recognition. Aren't you sick and tired of getting less? YOU PAY EQUAL TAXES -- HIGH NEW JERSEY TAXES.
Please participate in as many events as you can at this crucial juncture in state civil rights history. Officials have cited the turnout at these events as helping to turn them around.
Of course you've seen our EQUALITY BEGINS AT HOME series of eight dinners with eight legislators from Wednesday, October 29 through Wednesday, December 3 -- we've e-mailed you a lot. How often in your lifetime have you been to dinner with a legislator to let him or her know where you stand?
P L E A S E S I G N U P by F R I D A Y, O C T O B E R 2 4 for the dinners.
Unlike with our town meetings, you must sign-up for these dinners because they are mostly at people's private homes. The dinner schedule and sign-up procedure is at the end of this e-mail.
THERE ARE ALSO TWO TOWN MEETINGS REMAINING IN 2003: (1) Tuesday, November 18, 2003, 7 pm, at Rutgers-New Brunswick, Trayes Hall, 100 George Street. (2) Tuesday, December 9, 2003, 7 pm, in Moorestown, SOUTH JERSEY, Trinity Episcopal Church, Parish Hall, 207 Main Street. As always, you do NOT have to sign up to attend the town meetings, which are open-door and where we need packed houses.
Here again is the schedule and sign-up procedure for the dinner series with state legislators:
(1) Please examine the dinner schedule below and then e-mail me, Steven Goldstein with Lambda Legal, by Friday, October 24 at
Goldstein@AttentionAmerica.com (917) 449-8918 with the dinner(s) you wish to attend. If you specify multiple dinners, we will match you with one or more.
(2) Please put only a single word -- "Dinners" -- in the subject heading of your e-mail to Steven. This will expedite your assignment.
(3) You need not live in a legislator's district to attend the dinner with him or her. But assignment preference will be based on geography, so please e-mail your hometown with your request.
(4) When we assign you dinner(s), we will e-mail you the location(s) and address(es).
1. Wednesday, October 29 at 6 pm
Assemblywoman Rose Marie Heck (R-Bergen County)
Dinner is in Hasbrouck Heights
2. Wednesday, November 5 at 7 pm
Senator Ray Lesniak (D-Union County)
Dinner is in Elizabeth
3. Thursday, November 6 at 5 pm
Senator Diane Allen (R-Burlington, Camden Counties)
Dinner is in Burlington City
4. Thursday, November 6 at 7 pm
Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union County)
Dinner is in Plainfield
5. Sunday, November 9 at 7 pm
Senator Robert Martin (R-Morris County)
Dinner is in Chatham Borough
6. Monday, November 17 at 7 pm
Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth County)
Dinner is in Lincroft
7. Monday, November 24 at 7 pm
Senator Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Union County)
Dinner is in Cranford
8. Wednesday, December 3 at 7 pm
Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex County)
Dinner is in Edison
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