"Everything under the rainbow spectrum!"
~Follow "Gay in NJ" on Twitter~ My name is Nif & I'm a lesbian & I live in New Jersey.
My motivation: Promote LGBTQ equality through visibility.
Email (If you need anything): nifleder@gmail.com
"Gay brothers and sisters,... You must come out. Come out... to your parents... I know that it is hard and will hurt them but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives... come out to your friends... if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors... to your fellow workers... to the people who work where you eat and shop... come out only to the people you know, and who know you. Not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake. For the sake of the youngsters who are becoming scared by the votes from Dade to Eugene...Only that way will we start to achieve our rights." ~Harvey Milk
“[T]he born-this-way approach carries an unintended implication that the behavior of gays and lesbians needs biological grounding to evade condemnation. Why should it? Our laws safeguard religious freedom, and that’s not because there’s a Presbyterian, Buddhist or Mormon gene. There’s only a tradition and theology that you elect or decline to follow. But this country has deemed worshiping in a way that feels consonant with who you are to be essential to a person’s humanity. So it’s protected. Our laws also safeguard the right to bear arms: not exactly a biological imperative. Among adults, the right to love whom you’re moved to love — and to express it through sex and maybe, yes, marriage — is surely as vital to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a Glock. And it’s a lot less likely to cause injury, if that’s a deciding factor: how a person’s actions affect the community around him or her.”
—New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, on Cynthia Nixon’s controversial comments.
“I shudder to think what would have happened if the civil rights gains, heroically established by courageous lawmakers in the 1960s, were instead conveniently left up to popular votes in our 50 states.”
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Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), who supports gay marriage, criticizing the comment Governer Chris Christie made comparing the fight for gay marriage to the struggle for Civil Rights of black people in America.
Christie said, “I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South.”
Supporters outside the Statehouse in Trenton, NJ wait to attend a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to get the ball on gay marriage rolling. [1/24/12]
“Ask yourself what you are worried about if same-sex marriage is legalized. Whatever your answer is, ask yourself if you really believe what you just came up with. Homosexuality is not going to spread. It is not communicable. Society is not going to turn into a Lady Gaga video. Most gay couples I know are just as boring as you and I. They sit on the couch and watch television. They work at the post office, the hospital, the grocery store, and at real estate agencies, just like heterosexuals do. They eat out at restaurants and shop at Target. Many have pot bellies and don’t have much fashion sense, just like me. They own pets, and go to church. They volunteer, sing Christmas carols, and buy Girl Scout cookies. What are you afraid of? What is going to change by allowing these people to commit to one another and enjoy the benefits that you and I enjoy: tax breaks, insurance breaks, bereavement leave, medical leave to care for a sick partner, domestic violence protection, visitation of partner in the hospital, burial determination, medical decisions on behalf of partner. Really sexy stuff. You and I take these things for granted. Nobody wants to go through life not knowing how they will deal with some of these difficult moments in life. Imagine if you were denied any of the above rights when the time came for you and your spouse to exercise that right? I’ll tell you what it would feel like. It would feel like you were a second-class citizen.”
NJ Senate Democrats respond to Governor Chris Christie’s proposal to put the issue of gay marriage on the ballot in November. Christie believes that being an election year, voter turnout will be at its highest, and therefore an accurate and fair reflection of Garden State citizen’s beliefs. He has stated multiple times that he will use his power to veto the bill, however, here, a firm stand is made with the main message being: the question of equality does not belong on the ballot.
It is a time-honored tradition at Navy homecomings - one lucky sailor is chosen to be first off the ship for the long-awaited kiss with a loved one. On Wednesday, for the first time, the happily reunited couple was gay, now that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been repealed.
After Gaeta’s 80 days at sea, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta (left) kisses her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach on Wednesday, December 22, 2011. (via)
Report Rick Perry’s new video as promoting hatred or violence based on sexual orientation. Instructions are above and please share around.
“I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.” -Perry
A gay Indonesian man fighting to remain in the U.S. with his American husband has been denied a reprieve from deportation — a decision that appears to contradict Obama administration promises that members of same-sex binational couples can be considered lower-priority cases among the nation’s 300,000 current deportation proceedings.
During a brief Friday meeting at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Philadelphia office, Anton Tanumihardja, who in June married his American spouse, Brian Andersen, was denied a request for what’s known as deferred action. He was ordered to return to the local branch on January 13 for another appearance.
If the Department of Homeland Security or an immigration appeals board within the Justice Department does not intervene, immigration officers will require Tanumihardja to make travel arrangements back to Indonesia or be taken into custody and removed from the U.S. by ICE.
Lavi Soloway, the couple’s attorney and cofounder of Stop the Deportations, said he believed that the Friday decision means the administration has not implemented recently updated deportation guidelines in the field, which could have severe consequences for binational gay couples such as his clients.
“The Obama administration made a commitment to stop deportations that would tear apart families, including same-sex couples, and yet in its decision the ICE Office in Philadelphia is failing to make good on that commitment,” Soloway said. “The administration must take immediate action to ensure that the new deportation policy is being implemented fairly and consistently by ICE deportation officers in local offices, or this policy announcement is meaningless.”
![Supporters outside the Statehouse in Trenton, NJ wait to attend a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to get the ball on gay marriage rolling. [1/24/12]](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhrciRztT1qb30hpo1_500.jpg)
