Notes from the LGBTQ Rights Committee - Shore Area NOW
Friday, April 13, 2018
The Shore Area NOW LBGTQ Rights Committee met on Friday, April 13, 2018 at 6:00pm in Eatontown, NJ. In attendance were: Lynn Hansen, Theresa Falcone, Aimee Rabino, Abbie Spector and Jill Stack.
The Committee discussed the boos, coups and wait and sees since the last meeting:
· Boos
o Donald Trump’s continual “tweet ban” on open military service for transgender people.
o The nomination of Gordon Giampietro for federal judgeship for Wisconsin's eastern district by Donald Trump. Giampietro publicly denigrated marriage equality as “an assault on nature”. These appointments are lifetime appointments.
· Coups
o Sue Fulton became the first high level government appointment of an LGBT person by the Murphy Administration. She will serve as the new Commissioner of the Motor Vehicle Commission.
o On April 6th, Anchorage, Alaska voters soundly rejected Proposition 1 -- a dangerous ballot measure that sought to eliminate existing municipal non-discrimination protections for transgender people.
o On April 6th, Houston got a new Pride wall.
o On April 5th, the Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill to protect LGBTQ Youth from conversion therapy.
o On April 5th, the Maryland State Legislature sent a bill to protect LGBT Youth from conversion therapy to Gov. Hogan.
o On April 5th, Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that lesbian spouses are both legal parents to their marital children.
o US District Court Tells Puerto Rico to Issue Accurate Birth Certificates for Transgender Puerto Ricans
o US District Court Tells Idaho to Issue Accurate Birth Certificates for Transgender Idahoans.
· Wait and Sees
o On January 25th, Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN asked the US District Court for the Western District of Washington to permanently block enforcement of the Trump Administration’s plan to ban transgender people from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Services. Still Pending.
o Supreme Court Justices to hear case on religious objections to same sex marriage sometime in 2018. The case is called "Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission".
o On March 29th, the ACLU and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit challenging Ohio’s refusal to correct the gender marker on birth certificates for transgender individuals, for any reason, at any time.
o On January 5th, Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit against St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Paterson, New Jersey, after the hospital refused to allow Jionni Conforti’s surgeon to perform a routine hysterectomy because Jionni is transgender.
Lynn announced the following events:
· Saturday, April 21st - NJ Trans Youth Forum at New Brunswick High School. Starts at 9:00am and tickets are $20.
· Monday, April 23rd - Aging in NJ at Green Hill Senior Living in West Orange. Starts at 1:00pm and is free.
· Monday, May 21st - Hate: Causes, Crimes and Consequences at Brookdale Community College starting at 6:00pm. Free.
· Friday, June 1st – The Equality Ball with special guest Governor Phil Murphy at The Asbury Hotel sponsored by Garden State Equality. It runs from 6:00pm to 11:00pm and an individual ticket is $500.
· Sunday, June 3rd - NJ Pride Festival in Asbury Park.
· Saturday, June 9th - LGBT Senior Housing and Care Expo. Green Hill Senior Living in West Orange. Starts at 10:00am.
The committee then started planning for the upcoming Pride Festival in Asbury Park on Sunday, June 3rd. Theresa Falcone will be leading the tabling effort for the Committee and Shore Area NOW. The following actions ensued:
· Aimee and Jill will think about what we can do with the Trump Heads and report at the next planning meeting.
· Theresa will investigate stickers with snappy slogans that we can sell.
· Abbie will make 100 American Pride ribbons.
· Theresa will develop organization information cards with snappy slogans that we can hand out with Abbie's ribbon attached for donations.
· Abbie will investigate NOW rounds that we can possibly sell.
· Jill will investigate hats that we can sell and confer with Theresa.
· Lynn will develop petitions surrounding the LGBTQ Rights Committee's key bills that we are pushing (A1335/S1569) that we will ask people at the festival to sign.
· Theresa will continue to plan out and work the staffing details, sales and logistics for the event.
We will have a special interim committee meeting on Friday, May 4th, at 3:00pm in Eatontown to review progress on the above and come to closure.
Abbie presented the group with Shore Area NOW LGBTQ Rights Committee shirts for us to wear at the Pride Festival and Chapter Meetings.
Lynn requested that Abbie mail letters from Shore Area NOW to Senators Sweeney, Weinberg, Ruiz, Turner, O'Scanlon and Gopal requesting that Bill S1569 be put on the Senate Education Committee's agenda for discussion. We deferred discussing any further legislative activity in light of the Pride Festival work above. We will resume our legislative work at our LGBTQ Rights Committee Meeting and Barbecue on Wednesday, August 15th, at 6:00pm in Eatontown.
Submitted by: Lynn Hansen