UU FA Office

Marriage Equality – Votes on Feb. 13 and 16

by UU FA Office

Marriage Equality in Jersey is comig up for a vote.  The full New Jersey Senate will on vote Monday, February 13.  The session will begin at noon .  Please try to get there between 9am and 10am to fill the gallery if you are interested in going. The full New Jersey Assembly will vote on Thursday, February 16 in a session beginning at 1:00pm.

Letters should be sent, delivered or e-mailed before the vote date. Garden State Equality has provided a link for an easy way to send an e-mail message to all three of your legislators – your Senator and two Assembly members – all at once.  Given the time factor, e-mails are a great tool.  Here’s the link:  http://tinyurl.com/6ndybf7 .  Please let others know about this too.

From Garden State Equality: On both days, we suggest you park at the Trenton Marriott, 1 West Lafayette Street, and walk to the State House, 125 West State Street, three blocks away.  Garden State Equality volunteers will guide you from the Marriott to the State House.  If you have an EQUALITY The American Dream t-shirt, please wear it.  After the Assembly votes on Thursday, February 16, Garden State Equality will hold a huge gathering, free, at the nearby Trenton Marriott.

Assembly Hearing – Feb. 2

by UU FA Office
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The Assembly Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the marriage equality bill on Thursday, February 2 at 10:00am at the New Jersey State House, 125 West State Street in Trenton. If you would like a seat in the main room, get there early. Rev. Craig will have “Standing on the Side of Love” lapel stickers for all UU’s, so look forr her on the front of the annex steps as of about 9:30am.

This hearing is the final hearing on the bill and the second step in bill’s prospective passage.  The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was capped by an 8 to 4 vote in favor of the marriage equality bill.  After Thursday’s Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing, in the weeks ahead the bill will go to the full Senate and the full Assembly for final floor votes.

What else can you do? Circulate petitions  in your congregation supporting marriage equality.  (Please let us know after they’ve been completed, so we can get them from you, director@uulmnj.org).

Marriage Equality Bills Introduced

by UU FA Office

In the new legislative session beginning in January 2012, the very first bills posted in the Assembly and Senate (A.1 and S.1 respectively) would establish marriage equality in New Jersey.

Check back for more information – we’ll keep you posted.

A Senate hearing is being held on Tuesday, January 24 at 11:00am in the State House in Trenton.  Join fellow UULMNJ members at the hearing – make sure to get there early!

You can also contact your legislators, see  www.njleg.state.nj.us/ for contact information.

And let us know if you would like to be part of our Marriage Equality Task Force, at director@uulmnj.org.

Marriage Equality – Senate Hearing Jan. 24, 2012

by UU FA Office

In the new legislative session beginning in January 2012, the very first bills posted in the Assembly and Senate (A.1 and S.1 respectively) would establish marriage equality in New Jersey.

A Senate hearing is being held on Tuesday, January 24 at 11:00am in the State House in Trenton.  Join fellow UULMNJ members at the hearing – make sure to get there early!

You can also contact your legislators, see  www.njleg.state.nj.us/ for contact information.

And let us know if you would like to be part of our Marriage Equality Task Force, at director@uulmnj.org.

Senate Hearing – January 24 – We Need You

by UU FA Office
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Garden State Equality is compiling witnesses to testify at the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, January 24 at 11:00 am on S.1, the marriage equality bill.  The hearing will be Tuesday at 11:00 am at the State House, though people will be meeting earlier to get seats.

They are specifically seeking:

  • Civil union couples who have faced difficulties with the civil union law.
  • Civil union couples who want to talk about what the deprivation of marriage equality means to them.
  • Clergy.
  • LGBT Youth. Parents or other loved ones of LGBT youth.
  • Supporters of marriage equality, straight or LGBT.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO TESTIFY, PLEASE E-MAIL Testify@GardenStateEquality.org and put TESTIFY in the subject header, and include in the email your name, town and the easiest phone number at which to reach you, which they will not give to anyone.  Please also include which category above applies to you, or any other category or anything else relevant.  Please let them know that you are from the Legislative Ministry, and copy UULMNJ PPN Executive Director Rev. Craig Hirshberg in your email, at director@uulmnjppn.org.

Whether or not you want to testify, please join us that morning.  We need a massive crowd.  Please meet us as early as possible on Tuesday morning at the State House, 125 West State Street, Trenton.  You can park at the Trenton Marriott, 1 West Lafayette Street, only three blocks from the State House, and then walk to the State House.  You cannot arrive too early.

Please forward this information to others in your congregation and urge them to participate in whatever way they are able to do so.  And then let Rev. Craig know what you are planning.  Thank you.

Cherry Hill: Gearing Up for Marriage Equality

by UU FA Office

Two years ago, the UU Church in Cherry Hill, under the leadership of our Social Justice Committee, put out an enormous effort to support marriage equality. Sadly, the bill before the legislature was defeated. We stood proudly along with other advocates of marriage equality doing our part. We wrote letters, volunteered time, and created a legislative brigade through which we were able to send about a dozen people (different people for different hearings depending on the individual availability of our church community members) to every important rally and hearing. We worked as a team and were as effective as we could be.

Now, the issue of marriage equality is coming up for vote again.  Despite our expectation that the governor will veto the bill, there is sufficient support among our legislators (including some who voted nay the last time around) that the bill should pass, and hopefully, might override a veto as well. This effort is supported not just by our church, but by all UU churches in New Jersey through our New Jersey UU Legislative Ministry.

There are two actions we seek from our church members at this time.

  • First, please visit Garden State Equality’s website for more information..
  • Second, consider what role you can take in this effort. In particular, we need new leadership in our congregation.

This issue took many of us by surprise. We need organization and we’re trying to balance our need to organize this effort with the many commitments church members already have. If you have passion and time and would like to help lead us in this effort, please contact Ken Goldberg (kennethgoldberg@comcast.net), right away.

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

by UU FA Office

On Monday evening, January 16, I was  participating in a conference call with our congregational liaisons.   I mentioned a reading, a sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. I heard at the Summit MLK service.  I thought I would pass it on to you.  Although it was written 50 years ago, it still rings true.

 

“Paul’s Letter to American Christians”
– Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, on 4 November 1956

 

And here’s an article from the local press, Unitarians to Read MLK Speech January 16

 

– Rev. Craig Hirshberg

Health Insurance Exchange Forum at UU Princeton

by UU FA Office

What is the NJ Health Insurance Exchange and What Does It Mean for You?

A Forum on NJ Health Insurance Exchanges will be held on Sunday, February 26 after the second service at 12:30 pm in Fahs Theatre at the UU Congregation of Princeton, located at 50 Cherry Hill Road in Princeton.

The national Affordable Care Act requires the implementation of an Exchange in each state during 2014 to assist individuals and small employers in purchasing health insurance.  This Forum will discuss what a Health Insurance Exchange is and how it operates.  An Exchange gives the opportunity for lowering health care costs and allowing consumers to make better decisions on their health insurance.  Learn what the options are for states and the actions that NJ is taking.

The Forum is sponsored by the UU Legislative Ministry of New Jersey in cooperation with the NJ Citizen Action Health Care Campaign.

Ridgewood: Films and Discussions: 1/13/12 and 2/3/12

by UU FA Office

Friday, January 13: The film “Which Way Home” shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face many dangers as they try to get to the U.S. to work or to join their families, on top of a freight train they call “The Beast.”

Friday, Feburary 3: “Lost in Detention” , Frontline film, investigates President Obama’s enforcement strategies and journeys into the secretive world of immigrant detention, with a penetrating look at who is being detained and what is happening to them.

Discussion follows each film.  See the UU Ridgewood site for details.

Vote to Override Fracking Ban Veto

by UU FA Office
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On January 9 there will be a chance to override the Governor’s veto of New Jersey’s fracking ban, but we need your help to do it.  If the legislators in both houses, who originally supported the ban, vote to override the veto, it will pass with a significant majority.

Please contact Senator Sweeney’s office the first week in January, and ask Senator Sweeney to hold a vote to override the Governor’s veto of the fracking ban.  See http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/ for contact information.

For more information on fracking, visit Food & Water Watch’s Anti-Fracking Center.

Call-in flyer from Food & Water Watch