A parade promoting
pride:
Parade features
music, vendors and educational booths
Gay and lesbian
community backs same-sex marriage
BY JANEEN JONES,
app.com from the Web, June 5, 2006
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(STAFF PHOTOS: MICHAEL SYPNIEWSKI)
Members of
the New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus carry a quilt at New Jersey's 15th
annual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Intersexed Pride
Celebration in Asbury Park on Sunday. |
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April
Smith performs at New Jersey's 15th annual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgendered and Intersexed Pride Celebration in Asbury Park on
Sunday |
ASBURY PARK — The state
Supreme Court heard arguments in February on whether to allow same-sex couples
to be married in New Jersey. The court has not made a ruling yet.
Massachusetts is the only state to legalize gay marriage.
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to debate a constitutional amendment that
defines marriage as only a union between a man and a woman.
Same-sex marriage was on the minds of participants who showed support for the
gay and lesbian community at New Jersey's 15th annual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgendered and Intersexed (GLBTI) Pride Celebration on Sunday.
The event, which featured a parade and festival, featured live music with
performances by the Village People; a display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt; and
more than 150 vendors and educational booths at Fifth and Ocean avenues.
Among them was the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an
organization with the intent of creating safe schools for those in the gay and
lesbian community, said Jackie Somma, 57.
The Tinton Falls resident was at the Jersey Pride-sponsored event with her
partner, Patty Tully, 57, working at the GLSEN booth.
The national organization, with a central and northern state chapter, offers
workshops to teachers and students educating them of the effects of bullying and
name-calling.
"We are trying to get the word out that those things are hurtful," Tully said.
Debra Gold, 43, of Ridgewood, Bergen County, came with her wife, whom she
married three years ago in Vermont, and 6-year-old son, David.
"We wanted to expose him to the environment of gay and lesbian culture," Gold
said as she stood in line with her son for the Moonbounce slide.
"I think he will grow up to believe women can love women, men can love men,
people can love people," she said. "If that's the one lesson he learns,
we've done our job."
But Gold, like many at Sunday's event, expressed disappointment in President
Bush's support of a resolution to amend the Constitution to define marriage as a
union between a man and a woman.
"I think he's doing it because his ratings are so low," Gold said.
She said Bush is raising the issue now to try to gain favor with right-wing
conservatives who support a ban on same-sex marriage.
"Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and a wife
to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the
stability of society," Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday.
"Marriage cannot be cut off from its cultural, religious and natural roots
without weakening this good influence on society."
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to debate the constitutional amendment,
defining marriage as only a union between a man and a woman.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who attended the event with Rep. Frank Pallone
Jr., D-N.J., and Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin, told the crowd
gathered at the event he would vote against the amendment.
"I voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in Congress, and I intend this
week to vote against it again in the United States Senate," Menendez said.
John Crowell Campbell, commissioner of the New Jersey Commission on Civil
Rights, said he doesn't think the amendment will pass.
"The more people look at the issue, they realize it's a basic civil rights
issue, not a religious sacrament," he said. "It's a civil contract between
the state and two people."
While many at the festival turned their attention to the issue of same-sex
marriage, attendants also said Sunday's event was about socializing with others
in the gay and lesbian community.
Carly Nielsen, 22, of Maywood, Bergen County, came for the first time to the
pride celebration festival with her fiancee, Allie Delaney, 20, of Asbury Park.
Delaney has been coming for the past three years to the event and said she
decided to bring Nielsen this year.
"It's our first pride event together," Delaney said.
The couple agreed it was comforting to be among the gay and lesbian community
during the festival.
"You can walk around (holding) ... your girlfriend's hand and not have people
stare," Nielsen said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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