New Jersey - Garden State Equality Ends Giving to Political Parties Posted 2/8/2010 10:10:00 AM
Abstract -
Sending a bold signal that no political party should take the support of the
LGBT community and its allies for granted, Garden State Equality’s Board of
Directors has unanimously approved a new provision for the organization’s bylaws
that immediately precludes Garden State Equality from giving financial
contributions to political parties and their affiliated committees. Under the
new policy, Garden State Equality will make financial contributions only to
individual candidates and to non-party organizations that further equality for
the LGBT community.
The bylaws provision asks
Garden State Equality members, who make their own decisions as to individual
political contributions, to refrain from contributing to parties and their
affiliated committees. The complete text of the new policy is
below.
“No political party has a
record good enough on LGBT civil rights that it can rightfully claim to be
entitled to our money on a party-wide basis,” said Steven Goldstein, chair of
Garden State Equality. “No longer will we let any political party take our
money and volunteers with one hand, and slap us in the face with the other when
we seek full equality.”
“Our Board of Directors felt
so strongly about adopting this new policy," Goldstein said, "that it
unanimously decided to include it in the organization's
bylaws.”
With more than 65,000
members, Garden State Equality is New Jersey’s largest civil rights organization
– and one of the nation’s largest. Garden State Equality’s Board of Directors
consists of 85 LGBT and non-LGBT members.
Since Garden State
Equality’s founding in 2004, New Jersey has enacted 210 LGBT civil rights law at
the state, county and local levels. A 2009 year-end survey by
eQualityGiving.com ranks New Jersey as #1 in the United States for LGBT
civil rights, tied with California, Iowa and Vermont. Among New Jersey’s LGBT
civil rights laws are a comprehensive anti-discrimination law, anti-hate crimes
law and anti-school bullying law that all include sexual orientation, gender
identity and gender expression. New Jersey and California are the only two
states that provide paid family leave for same-sex couples.
The only LGBT civil rights
law New Jersey does not have is marriage equality. After the state Senate
voted down a marriage equality bill earlier this year, Lambda Legal announced at
a Garden State Equality news conference that our side is going back to
court.
Here is the full text of
Garden State Equality’s new bylaws provision:
Garden State Equality
finds that financial contributions to political parties and their affiliated
committees directly or indirectly support candidates who oppose full equality
for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, including marriage
equality. That runs counter to our organization's
mission.
Be it resolved that
Garden State Equality shall no longer make financial contributions to political
parties and their affiliated committees. Henceforth, Garden State Equality
shall only make financial contributions to individual candidates for public
office, or to entities independent of political parties which further equality
for the LGBT community through their choice of candidates or issues to support
or oppose.
With this resolution,
Garden State Equality sends two unmistakable signals to our political parties:
That none should take the support of the LGBT community and its allies for
granted, and that none should write off the potential to earn the support of the
LGBT community and its allies.
Though Garden State
Equality's members make their own decisions as to individual political
contributions, we urge our members to contribute solely to individual candidates
for public office, or to entities independent of political parties which further
equality for the LGBT community through their choice of candidates or issues to
support or oppose; and not to political parties or their affiliated committees.
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