yesthattom | IT'S YOUR VICTORY!!! New Jersey becomes fifth U.S. state to recognize gay relationships

This letter from Steven Goldstein says it better than I could:

Dear Friends,

Today's monumental civil rights victory in Trenton, the final passage of domestic partnership legislation that grants legal recognition to lesbian and gay couples in New Jersey, is because of you. This is YOUR VICTORY, one that YOU -- truly YOU IN PARTICULAR -- worked tremendously hard for. Your participation in events of the past year, from the town meetings to the legislative dinners to the crucial meetings of the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition, the Family Equality Coalition and all 107 state and local organizations involved, made all the difference in the world. The LGBTI community became an army of thousands upon thousands against whom the few haters didn't stand a chance. Deep appreciation also goes to the 187 clergy members across New Jersey who gave us so much of their time, proving that people of faith are people for equality.

New Jersey now becomes the fifth U.S. state to recognize lesbian and gay relationships. The rights provided under this domestic partnership law are a fraction of those provided by marriage, but wow, is this ever an important step toward equality!

In that regard, New Jersey also becomes the first U.S. state to pass domestic partnership benefits without an anti-marriage equality law as a tradeoff. The New Jersey law is a clean, pro-civil rights law, period.

Just as remarkably, today's vote in the State Senate was 23-to-9. Perhaps never before in U.S. history has a legislative body ever voted for a gay rights measure by that large a margin. And in the floor debate over the bill, not a single Senator spoke against it.

As you know, our year-long campaign has been called "Supporting All Roads to Justice: Marriage Equality in the Courts, Domestic Partnership in the Legislature." We have successfully travelled one of those two roads. Our campaign for marriage equality will be as aggressive as in 2004 as it was in 2003. Please keep an eye out for the announcement of our Spring 2004 town meetings, "Equal People, Equal Marriage: Continuing All Roads to Justice."

Congratulations to you and your loved ones!

All best,

Steven Goldstein

with Lambda Legal

Cell (917) 449-8918

Goldstein@AttentionAmerica.com