Lambda Legal To Sue NJ For Marriage

Just in via press release:

Lambda Legal to Announce Marriage Equality Lawsuit with Garden State Equality on Wednesday at 10:00 am

Save the Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

(Trenton, June 28, 2011) - Tomorrow Lambda Legal and Garden State Equality will hold a press conference announcing a marriage equality lawsuit.

When: Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Where: Trenton Marriott Downtown, Salon C
1 West Lafayette Street
Trenton, New Jersey 08608

Who: Hayley Gorenberg, Lambda Legal Deputy Legal Director ; Steven Goldstein, Chair and CEO of Garden State Equality; Case plaintiffs

Interesting timing!

Chris Christie: No To Same-Sex Marriage

Chris Christie: Gays Aren't Sinners

The wingnut fallout from this will be delicious.

Chris Christie Pays Up

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has reimbursed the state for his helicopter ride to his son's baseball game.

The unapologetic governor on Thursday reimbursed the state $2,100 himself and $1,200 from the state Republican Party to cover the cost of two helicopter flights to see his oldest son, Andrew, star in two baseball tournament games. “Afterwards, he said to me, ‘Dad, thanks for coming,” Christie recalled at a news conference in Denville. Democrats had a less heart-warming response when learning of Christie’s use of a month-old, $12.5 million state police helicopter to shuttle him from the Statehouse to the ballpark. They have called for hearings to look into the governor’s personal use of the perk and called Christie a hypocrite for wasteful spending.

Gov. Chris Christie, Fiscal Conservative

This is how New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the fiscal hero to conservatives, attends his son's baseball games.

Right before the lineup cards were being exchanged on the field, a noise from above distracted the spectators as the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked from the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about a 100 yards to the baseball field.During the 5th inning, Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie got into the car, rode back to the helicopter and left the game. During a pitching change, play was stopped for a couple of minutes while the helicopter took off.

Despite a media outcry, today Christie's spokesman defended the helicopter trip as "appropriate" and said the governor would not be reimbursing the state for its cost.

NEW JERSEY: Roommate Arraigned In Tyler Clementi Suicide Case

Tenth Grader Challenges Crazy Eyes To Debate About U.S. Constitution

I'd put my money on Amy, should Crazy Eyes dare agree to the challenge. But I'm not holding my breath on that ever happening.

NEW JERSEY: Plea Deal For Student Involved In Tyler Clementi Case

One of the Rutgers students involved in the Tyler Clementi case has accepted a plea deal in return for agreeing to testify against Clementi's roommate.

Part of the deal requires Molly Wei, 19, of West Windsor to testify against Dharun Rhavi, the roommate of Tyler Clementi [left] who leaped off the George Washington Bridge last fall after learning he had been spied upon. Clementi, 18, was a Rutgers freshman and promising violinist. Wei pleaded not guilty in Middlesex County Superior Court on Friday to watching the webcast with Ravi and a judge accepted her application into a pretrial intervention program that could drop the two counts of invasion of privacy against her. In exchange for dismissing the charges, Wei must testify against Ravi, complete 300 hours of community service, undergo counseling on cyberbullying and take classes on dealing with people of alternative lifestyles.

Clementi's family approved of the plea arrangement, saying: "Actions have consequences. We wish Ms. Wei will become a person who will make better decisions, will help people and show kindness to those she comes in contact with."

NEW JERSEY: Judge Temporarily Halts Deportation Of Gay Man

A New Jersey immigration judge today temporarily halted the deportation of Henry Velandia, who is legally married to a U.S. citizen. This follows yesterday's move by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who vacated the decision to deport another gay man in the same situation.

Henry Velandia, who faces deportation to Venezuela, is petitioning to be allowed to remain in the U.S. as the spouse of U.S. citizen Josh Vandiver. Judge Alberto Riefkohl granted an adjournment of the case Friday in a Newark immigration court. At issue is who can be considered a spouse under federal law. Velandia is a 27-year-old professional salsa dancer and Vandiver is a 29-year-old graduate student at Princeton University. They were married last year in Connecticut, where same-sex marriage is legal.

GetEQUAL had staged a protest against the deportation outside the Newark courtroom.

NEW JERSEY: Former Gov. Jim McGreevey Denied Episcopal Priesthood

Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey has been turned down in his first attempt to become an Episcopal priest. McGreevey, who resigned from office in 2004 after being forced to out himself, has been a seminary student since 2007. He converted from Catholicism shortly after his outing scandal.

Church leaders, who have long embraced gay parishioners and clergy, were bothered by McGreevey's bitter divorce, sources told The Post. "It was not being gay but for being a jackass -- [McGreevey] didn't come out of the whole divorce looking good," said a source with the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. Some leaders also were wary of McGreevey's sudden embrace of their faith after his scandal and feared the church was being used, the source added. After resigning as governor, "he was sort of looking for every angle to make a complete redo of his professional life," said another church source. "He ran to the church for some kind of cover, which isn't fully appropriate. Even if he's a good guy, he should wait five to 10 years to get over his issues."

Church sources tell the NY Post that it's not uncommon for first-time applicants to be denied.

CNN On Tyler Clementi Case

NEW JERSEY: Roommate Charged With Hate Crime In Suicide Of Rutgers Student

The roommate of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi (left) was today indicted on hate crime charges stemming from the secret webcasting of Clementi having sex with another man. Clementi leaped from the George Washington Bridge last year after learning about the broadcast.

Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers University student, was indicted on 15 counts including charges of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and tampering with evidence by a grand jury in Middlesex County, N.J. Prosecutors allege that not only did Ravi invade Clementi's privacy, but he tried to cover it up. Both Ravi and his alleged accomplice, former Rutgers student Molly Wei, are accused of filming Clementi during a "sexual encounter" in his dorm room with a man and then streaming it live on the Internet. Evidence against Wei has not yet been presented to a grand jury. Prosecutors allege that on Sept. 19 of last year, Ravi filmed Clementi with the purpose of intimidating him because of his sexual orientation. Ravi "disclosed a photograph, film, videotape, recording or other reproduction of the image of [Clementi]...whose intimate parts were exposed," the indictment reads. When Ravi became worried about being charged with a crime, he sent false tweets in an attempt "to mislead a public servant who was engaged in such proceeding or investigation," the indictment reads.

Clementi's parents have released a statement applauding today's charges.

NEW JERSEY: Gov. Chris Christie Signs Sweeping Anti-Bullying Law

He waited until the very last minute, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie this morning signed what is being hailed as the nation's most comprehensive anti-bullying legislation. Garden State Equality exults:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today signed the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, which enacts a new paradigm in America to counter school bullying and provides a template for anti-bullying laws in other U.S. states. The bill passed both houses of the New Jersey legislature on November 22, 2010 – by 73 to 1 in the Assembly and 30 to 0 in the Senate. Though New Jersey and 44 other states have had anti-bullying laws, experts say those laws have been based on a vague, loophole-riddled model that gives vast discretion to local school districts to do whatever they want or don’t want, and have lacked teeth to work in the real world. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights corrects that problem with a sweeping overhaul of New Jersey's current anti-bullying law, enacted in 2002.

“We are grateful to the prime sponsors, Assemblywomen Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Mary Pat Angelini, and Senators Barbara Buono, Diane Allen and Loretta Weinberg, for their leadership that brought Democrats and Republicans together rapidly,” said Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality. The overwhelmingly bipartisan support for this landmark legislation will give impetus to other states across America, whether they are blue or red, to adopt anti-bullying laws just like ours. The era of vagueness and loopholes in anti-bullying laws is over, and hope for our children has begun.”

The complete text of the law is here.

Parents Of Dead Student May Sue Rutgers

The parents of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi have filed notice of possible intent to sue the school. Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge earlier this year after other students webcast a sexual encounter he'd had with a man in his dorm room.

The parents, Joseph and Jane Clementi of Ridgewood, N.J., filed legal notices with the university on Friday, said Paul Mainardi, a lawyer for the family. By law, they must wait six months to file a lawsuit, but they had to give notice within 90 days after the death to preserve their right to sue. Mr. Mainardi said that the notices did not necessarily signal an intention to sue. “A decision as to whether to file suit against Rutgers University in the future has not been made,” he said.

One of the legal notices filed last week, a notice of tort claim, contends that Rutgers “failed to put in place and/or implement, and enforce, policies and practices that would have prevented or deterred such acts.” Another notice claims the university broke its agreement with Mr. Clementi to protect him. E. J. Miranda, a spokesman for Rutgers, said the university shared the family’s sense of loss and understood that they would question whether an institution or other people were to blame. “While the university understands the reaction,” he said, “the university is not responsible for Tyler Clementi’s suicide.”

The students responsible for the webcast have since withdrawn from the school after being charged with invasion of privacy. They may face additional charges.

NJ Approves Anti-Abortion License Plates

New Jersey's DMV has approved an anti-abortion specialty license plate. Sales from the plate go to a Christian "pregnancy care center" where women are counseled about the "moral choice" before them. (In other words, probably one of those fake abortion clinics.) New Jersey becomes the 26th state to approve such a plate since the Supreme Court refused to block them several years ago.

NEW JERSEY: Gov. Chris Christie Waffles On Signing Landmark Bullying Bill

This week New Jersey's legislature nearly unanimously approved what would be the nation's stiffest anti-bullying bill. But GOP Gov. Chris Christie isn't convinced he should sign it.

"Now, bullying is an important problem in New Jersey, and this anti-bullying bill that was passed is something that when it gets to my desk I'm going to study very closely and decide whether or not I can sign it or whether I need to improve it. But I consider it an extraordinarily important issue to the people of the state, and it will get my full analysis and consideration, and that of my staff."

The lone dissenting vote in both chambers, a Republican, cited the objections of Christian groups who favor beating queer kids in the name of the Lord. Two other GOP legislators abstained at the last minute.

Incidentally, Chris Christie has been making some 2012 GOP presidential short lists in recent weeks.

(Tipped by JMG reader Ed)

NEW JERSEY: Anti-Bullying Bill Passes Overwhelmingly In Both Chambers

Today the New Jersey legislature overwhelmingly approved a new anti-bullying bill. Passage of the law gained momentum in the wake of the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi, who threw himself from the George Washington Bridge after his dorm mate live-streamed a gay sexual encounter over the internet. The bill passed 30-0 in the state Senate and 71-1 in the Assembly.

The bill (A3466) would require training for most public school employees on how to spot bullying and mandate that all districts form “school safety teams” to review complaints. Superintendents would have to report incidents of bullying to the state Board of Education, which would grade schools and districts on their efforts to combat it. Administrators who do not investigate reported incidents of bullying would be disciplined, while students who bully could be suspended or expelled. School employees would also be required to report all incidents they learn of, whether they took place in or outside of school.

The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Chris Christie.

(Tipped by JMG reader Brian)

Pastor Four-Way

Saying that Facebook facilitates adultery, last week Rev. Cedric Miller of Asbury Park, New Jersey ordered all of the married members of his church's leadership to permanently log-out of the site or step down. That edict made national news and I so wish I'd covered it at the time because it turns out the good reverend has an interesting history in the fucking-other-people department himself.

The Rev. Cedric Miller, 48, copped to his own affair while testifying in a 2003 court case, the Asbury Park Press revealed Saturday. Miller testified that his wife had an affair with a male assistant at his Neptune, N.J., church - often with him present. He said the man's wife was also sometimes present. "I mean between the four of us," Miller said. "It was just, I mean there was touching, there was … it was crazy, it was as wrong as wrong could get. Yes." "Okay, it was sex, correct?" a lawyer asked. "Yes," Miller said.

Miller said the three and four-ways usually took place during "Bible study." Glory! Praise His Name! And hers and his too!

Rutgers Student Paper Denounces "Media Exploitation" Of Clementi Suicide

Rutgers University's Daily Targum has published an editorial denouncing the media frenzy around the suicide of student Tyler Clementi, arguing that gay activists have turned his death into a "cause based on false pretenses."

It is disappointing that everyone from news to celebrities picked up the story. Actress Brittany Snow and actor Neil Patrick-Harris are just two of the many celebrities belittling Clementi's death - forcing his remembrance into a cause rather than a proper mourning.

We did not know Tyler. It was barely three weeks into his first year at the University, and most of his neighbors in his residence hall barely knew him. Turning his death into a push for gay rights is a fallacy. Homosexuality is not the only reason for which people kill themselves. In this case, it might have pushed Clementi over the edge, but the fact that he was gay should by no means turn his death into a march for safe spaces. These groups want to be heard. They want the attention. They want their agendas to shine in the limelight.

Instead, we should address that the signs of a suicidal 18-year-old kid were unseen and went unnoticed, not "We want safety in our homes." We have the safety, or as much of it as we together as a University community can in today's world. What we need is to notice those of us who need help and help them. Entertainers stay away. O'Brien leave the issue alone. Let us - family, friends and the University together - mourn for Clementi, and just for him, rather than using him as a martyr for a cause that has yet to be proven.

Student reaction to the editorial appears to be overwhelmingly irate.

New Jersey Jewish Paper Vows Not To Run Any More Gay Wedding Announcements

The Jewish Standard says that it is SO very sorry to have run that gay wedding announcement and won't be doing that again.

We set off a firestorm last week by publishing a same-sex couple’s announcement of their intent to marry. Given the tenor of the times, we did not expect the volume of comments we have received, many of them against our decision to run the announcement, but many supportive as well. A group of rabbis has reached out to us and conveyed the deep sensitivities within the traditional/Orthodox community to this issue. Our subsequent discussions with representatives from that community have made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused. The Jewish Standard has always striven to draw the community together, rather than drive its many segments apart. We have decided, therefore, since this is such a divisive issue, not to run such announcements in the future.

Reader responses appears uniformly against the ban.