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New Jersey’s LAD
First in the Nation
Celebrates 60th Anniversary
On April 16th, 1945, Governor
Walter E. Edge signed a bill enacting the New Jersey Law Against
Discrimination and creating the Division Against Discrimination (now
known as the Division on Civil Rights). This law was the nation’s
very first state civil rights statue.
In January 1992, Governor Jim Florio
signed an amendment to the LAD that included “Affectional or Sexual
Orientation.” The law clearly states that the following are covered under
Public Accommodations: “…public library, kindergarten, primary and
secondary school, high school, academy, college and university, or any
educational institution under the supervision of the regents of the state
of New Jersey.”
The amendment to the LAD was not
implemented and new legislation was passed that requires school districts
to adopt harassment and bullying prevention policies to prevent violence
in the schools. The bill was signed by Governor Jim McGreevey in
September 2002.
The above legislation still has not
been implemented in our schools and we as a community have not done our
part to see that it was implemented and monitored. We call on all of you,
both groups and individuals, to join the Safe Schools Effort to
insist that the Acting Governor, The Attorney General, and Commissioner,
Department of Education meet their responsibility in seeing that schools
are safe places for all students and teachers.
GayPASG was co-founded and is sponsored
by Messrs. Richard J. Harrison and John Crowell Campbell of Edison, New
Jersey. Mr. Campbell is a Commissioner on the NJ Civil Right Commission.
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