NJ Pride Celebrated
Booker: We have gained some ground but we have a mighty long way to go
While acceptance and a celebration of diversity underscored the 2018 Pride events held throughout the Asbury Park area this weekend, the message was clear – there is more work to be done.
“Today is an important reminder that New Jersey is going to be a beacon of hope at a time when the federal government is making destructive and oppressive decisions,” said Garden State Equality Executive Director Christian Fuscarino during Sunday’s 27th Annual Jersey Pride Parade and Festival. “Just take a look around, Gov. [Phil] Murphy is here, Sen [Cory] Booker is here, we have a lot of other elected officials who are standing with our community and saying no matter what happens we are going to protect you at the State level.”
Murphy, the featured speaker during Friday night’s Garden State Equality Ball held at the newly opened Asbury Lanes, wore what he called a ‘rainbow lei,’ given to him during a Christopher Street Day Parade held in Berlin while he served as a US Ambassador during the Obama administration.
“We know that our State is at its best and its strongest when we hoist everyone up together as one family,” he said. “There are forces around us who still want to push our LGBTQ family members, friends and neighbors to the outskirts of society and we cannot let them.”
The weekend celebrations and events included tea dances, political rallies, the opening of Male Bonding – a group exhibit at the Collective Art Tank on Bangs Avenue, and Saturday’s QSpot Community Awards Jubilee Dinner at Riverview Waterfront Pavilion in Belmar.
Those honored included Rev. Dr. Anthony Campolo, a speaker, author, sociologist, pastor, social activist, who received backlash from the evangelical community after he spoke openly about the inclusion of the LGBT community into the church. He said Saturday that his speaking engagements went from 250 to 50.
Executive Director John Mikytuck said Campolo immediately came to the Ocean Grove based LGBTQ community support organization’s support when they faced eviction from the Jersey Shore Arts Center on South Main Street last year.
Also honored were Rev Bruce Davidson – an evangelical Lutheran pastor, Lisa Davis, Derek Minno-Bloom, Jan Moor and Emily Sonnessa [of Love Wins], Neptune City Councilwoman Pamela Renee, and Eileen Shrem – a founding member of NJAWBO who served on the Individual Health Coverage Program Board and the Gender Equity Advisory Committee during Gov Christine Whitman and Gov Jim McGreevey’s administrations.
By Sunday morning, pre Pride parade brunches and gatherings were underway. Among them, was the young generation’s prep at Project Real [shown above], located on Fourth Avenue.
Murphy was back on Sunday to march alongside the Asbury Park City Council, Congressman Frank Pallone Jr, Assemblywoman Joann Downey, and the thousands who gathered for the participate in the 27th Annual Jersey Pride Parade and Festival.
Among them was Sen Bob Menendez, who although no stranger to Asbury Park, said this was his first time marching in the local Pride parade.
“It’s a great day to share in the pride of fellow New Jerseyans, who they are and how they have contributed in every walk of life including serving our armed forces and the United States,” he said. “At a time where we have a president who seeks to divide us by who we are and where we came from, the color of our skin and who we love, I think it’s important that all of us come together to reject that type of bigotry and bias.”
Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn gave credit to the city as a whole for being on the forefront of gay rights since the 1970s.
“In 2004 we gave out marriage licenses when no one else was, at the risk of being put in jail by, ironically enough, Gov. [Jim] McGreevey,” Quinn said.
Also in attendance was Sen Cory Booker, who for the past six years has not only marched in the parade but been among the show stopping guest speakers.
“I love a defiant spirit, we have indomitable love, we are prideful,” Booker said. “I am so proud to stand in solidarity with all of those people who reject hate, who reject bigotry, and who, every single day, commit themselves to fighting for love.
“We must continue this movement,” he said. “We have gained some ground but we have a mighty long way to go. We still live in a nation that has a shameful reality, where in most of our 50 states, someone can be fired just because of who they are. We still have a country when so many, thousands, of our children miss school everyday because they are afraid of bigotry and bullying. We still have a nation that from the highest levels of our government officials, who still undermine the rights, liberties and freedoms of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender people. And so as long as there is hate, we will love. As long there is darkness, we will bring the light. As long as there is injustice, we will bring the justice.”
Pioneer Babs Siperstein, the only openly transgender member to serve on the Democratic National Committee, was given a special nod by US Congressman Frank Pallone Jr.
“I am so happy to see that Babs Siperstein came to the stage,” he said. “Babs epitomizes what it means to be an activist, and I know so many of you are.”
He also made a plea for those to get out and vote and help bring about the passage of the Equality Act, an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that would include sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation.
Murphy, who opened the festival, said, ‘We know the work goes on.’
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