“Gay rights are civil rights,” Julian Bond said, invoking during his testimony the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the women’s suffrage movement and the abolition of slavery.
Bond was one of many people to provide testimony on marriage equality, and about 1,000 people gathered at the capitol to rally over the issue.
The New Jersey state Senate Judiciary Committee subsequently voted 7-6 to approve the gay marriage bill in that state.
Steven Goldstein, Executive Director of Garden State Equality, said “The marriage-equality movement in America starts again right here.”
Unfortunately, the marriage equality movement in America has been happening in Tennessee all the while.
Currently, the marriage equality movement in Tennessee, which is for now blocked by the constitutional amendment, is being threatened by those who would prevent gay parents from adopting children.
There is good news regarding non-discrimination, though. Two municipalities have passed non-discrimination ordinances in Tennessee (Memphis and Nashville).
The marriage equality movement in Tennessee has a long way to go. I hope that Julian Bond will be able to visit Nashville at some point to rally NAACP members to support gay marriage in our state.
Tennessee is a republican black hole, religious bible thumping slob, incest fly-overstate!
It would be great to have Julian Bond back in Nashville and for him to speak out on GLBT rights. One correction. Shelby County government has passed a non-discrimination resolution. The City of Memphis will consider one in 2010, it appears. Unlike Nashville/Davidson County, Shelby County and Memphis are still separate governments.