"Drew University is essential in the fight for marriage equality here in New Jersey," said rally organizer and Committee Chairwoman of the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County (GAAMC) Jen Dugan ('08).
This past Saturday, Drew hosted a rally fighting for equality in the LGBTQ community. The rally was held on the Carriage House Field and hosted a large number of organizations tabling for equality. The event was organized by GAAMC, the Alliance and Montclair State University's Spectrums.
New Jersey is currently trying to legalize same-sex marriage through legislation rather than the court system that approved civil unions. This week, Vermont legislation managed to successfully do just that.
According to Dugan, only two more votes are needed for the legislation to pass in New Jersey. Morris County is a swing county in this issue, hence the reason why Dugan and Alliance co-chair Jennifer Toslu ('10) decided to hold the rally at Drew.
"We basically wanted to get everyone together and show that marriage equality- really it's a symptom of a bigger issue. Like you have kids in school who are being bullied because they have same-sex parents," said Toslu.
Dugan felt her work at GAAMC really solidified how unequal civil unions are. "Seeing how civil unions actually affect couples, actually meeting people who have had problems in the emergency room visiting their loved ones because the hospital doesn't understand what civil unions mean. It really hit home, like wow, this is really not equal," she said.
The rally discussed the idea that "separate but equal" is never truly equal.
Alliance Publicity Chair Arielle Sorenson ('12) felt that the event was really successful. "We had a lot of good speakers and it showed that there are a lot of organizations that are for marriage equality. It's a civil right and it honestly shouldn't be a question of whether it should be legal or not for queer couples," she said. "It was a very positive rally encouraging everyone to continue to fight for [equality]."
A large number of organizations set up tables at the rally, including the Alliance, the Montclair University Spectrums, GAAMC, Garden State Equality, the Greater New York Human Rights Campaign, the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship and Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
The Alliance's table discussed the fight for gender neutral housing. "It is important to allow at least transgender students the option of living in a rooming situation where they feel safe," said the Alliance's webmaster Hezaa Sudol ('11).
"This is a historic time-period for the queer community in America. New Jersey is on track to become one of the trailblazers for equality," Dugan said.
Sheryl McCabe contributed to this article.
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