TASK FORCE FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
P.O. Box 11406, New Brunswick NJ 08906-1406
Website: http://www.gaspasg.org
E-Mail: gaypasg@att.net
732 744-1370

1. MINUTES: Meeting of October 1, 1998 A meeting of the Task Force was held at the residence of Messrs. Campbell and Harrison at 7:30PM. Due to vacations and conflicting schedules, only the following members were present:

Ed Martone, Exec. Dir., ACLU-NJ
Messrs. John C. Campbell and Richard J. Harrison, GayPASG
Charlie Lanigan, GAAMC and GayPASG Coordinator
Kevin L. Tisdol, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC)

2. Ed Martone reported on the following:

  1. ACLU-NJ Gay, Lesbian, and AIDS Update (1,500 copies) with a report on Same-Sex Marriage was distributed. Ed has received requests for post cards from the mailing.
  2. The Sexual Orientation Bias Survey for the NJ Supreme Court submission date was extended so copies were included with the above mailing.
  3. Domestic Partner Benefits: No report on the ACLU & LAMBDA work on a recommendation for legislation.
  4. Work continues on scheduling meetings with State Legislators.
  5. The ACLU - A History is a one hour program which premiers on PBS on Tuesday, Oct 27, 1998.
  6. The 1998 ACLU AWARDS DINNER is Sunday, Nov. 15th, at the Brunswick Hilton and Towers, East Brunswick. There is a Sponsors Cocktail Reception ($50, per person) at 5:PM. Dinner is at 6:PM and is $50.00 per person. The recipients of this years awards are:

BIANCA JAGGER, International Human Rights Activist
REV. JAMES McCLOSKEY, Founder Centurion Ministries, Freed nineteen innocent people from death row
MICHELE KEEGAN jailed by the military junta in Burma for distributing pro-democracy literature.

3. John & Rich reported on the following::

  1. "Review and Report on Same-Sex Marriage" written for the October/November issue of The Liberator for MCC was distributed and is attached. We encourage members to try to get a report in each issue of their organization newsletter.
  2. The August 28th , meeting for :LEAGUE (AT&T) was hosted by Rich and John. The guest speaker was the first out gay person on the exchange floor. He made an impressive presentation. The group was briefed on the status of our effort for Same-Sex Marriage.
  3. Leah Levinger: Sept. 7th we drove to Medford to meet with Leah Levinger. She is a lesbian retired from Bank Street College of Education in NYC. Leah has authorized the use of her name in support of SSM and had friends from Bank Street send us a copy of "Toward the Most Thorough Understanding in the World: Sexual Orientation and Early Childhood Education." as published in Harvard Education Review - Summer of 1996.
  4. Promises North: We finally met Jeff Eaton, pastor of Emanuel Lutheran Church in New Brunswick. It is very encouraging to become acquainted with a congregation of Lutherans so dedicated to serving our community.
  5. Hyacinth AIDS Walk: The table at the registration point was a success. We could have gotten it set up a little earlier -- we'll know next time. 236 cards were signed, 40 of them authorizing the use of their names in support of SSM.
  6. Dee J. Gonzalez and Paul R. Porter had a Holy Union service on Sunday, September 27th. The Metropolitan Community Church, Rev. Arthur C. Runyan II, Pastor.

4. Coming Events for Task Force participation:

  1. Oct. 3rd, NOW State Conference, Bergen Community College, Paramus. We plan to have a SSM Task Force table in the registration area.
  2. Rainbow Business to Business Network, Oct. 5th,
  3. Jersey City State College, Oct. 7th, Person needed to attend this meeting!?
  4. Middlesex Co. NOW, Oct. 8th, John plans to attend.
  5. National Coming Out Day, Oct 11th at the PNC Arts Center. We plan to have a table at the event. Ed will take care of registration for a table next to ACLU's, and help staff. We will have post cards available.
  6. GALY Dance Oct.23rd.
  7. ACLU Dinner, Nov. 15th.

5. THE NEXT TASK FORCE MEETING WILL BE OCT. 29th, 7:30 PM at 473 Plainfield Road in Edison. 732 744-1367

 

Minutes by Richard J. Harrison & John C. Campbell

NOTE: GayPASG's New Website is looking good.

Check it out at  http://www.gaypasg.org

 

Review and Report on Same-Sex Marriage

By John C. Campbell, Gay & Lesbian Political Action & Support

The potential for Same-Sex Marriage in Hawaii looked good following that state's Supreme Court finding that the ban on Same-Sex Marriage violated the equal protection clause of the state constitution which calls for all citizens to have the same rights. The court said the government of Hawaii would have to show a compelling interest in keeping the ban. It became clear the state was not going to be able to convince the Court they had a compelling interest in denying Gays & Lesbians the right to marry. This infuriated all those opposed to basic rights for us and united them in their resolve to see that we would make no further progress.

The pressure for legislation to prohibit Same-Sex marriage resulted in the U.S. House of Representatives passing a bill in July '96 by a 342 to 67 vote. The U.S. Senate bill passed in September '96 by 85 to 14. This legislation, named the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), was designed to deny federal recognition of same-sex marriage for federal benefits and to let states refuse to recognize such unions licensed in other states.

State legislatures were busy too. The following is an update for this year as of June 23rd:

Anti-Pending 4 In AK, HI, NJ, OH
Anti-Adopted 4 In AL IA, KY, WA
Anti-Blocked 8 In CO, MD, ME, NM, NY, VT, WV, WI
Pro-Introduced 2 In MD, RI

Last year in New Jersey, we had bills in the Assembly (A.2193) and Senate (S.1376). We were fortunate that these two bills were not scheduled for a vote in 1997. The Assembly Bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 1998 Session as A.706. We thought we were going to be lucky and the Senate would not have a bill working this year. However, S.1281 was introduced in the Senate on July 30th, 1998, so we again have bills active in both houses in New Jersey.

These two bills are designed to amend the NJ law regarding marriage by adding that "Persons of the same-sex-shall not marry" They further state that such marriages performed elsewhere will not be recognized in NJ, and includes a new section which states that "Marriage between persons of the same-sex is against the public policy of the State of New Jersey."

A TASK FORCE TO DEFEAT A.2193 and S.1376 was organized in January 1997 by ACLU-NJ, NOW-NJ, P-FLAG, Gay Activists Alliance in Morris County (GAAMC), Gay & Lesbian Political Action and Support (GayPASG), and a number of individuals. After a few months we realized that our efforts would be essential on a continuing basis regardless of what happened to A.2193 and S.1376 so the name was changed to the TASK FORCE FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. This alliance is committed to civil same-sex marriage.. We seek to achieve this goal through grassroots organizing, public education and political action.

The Task Force has been busy visiting legislators, sponsoring a letter and post-card campaign, and organizing support. With the new bill (S.1281) in the Senate we will have to double our efforts. We invite everyone who supports full civil/human rights for Gays and Lesbian to join us in this effort. You can view our meeting minutes, obtain copies of letters for the Governor and legislators, and authorize the use of your name in support of Same-Sex Civil Marriage by visiting our Website. We can be reached at:

THE TASK FORCE FOR SAME SEX-MARRIAGE

PO Box 11406, New Brunswick, NJ 08906-1406

Phone: 732 744-1370, FAX 732 744-1368, e-mail gaypasg@att.net,

or visit our Website at http://www.gaygasg.org

Send mail to email@gaypasg.org with questions or comments about this web site.
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